On February 17, 2023, the USAID Rule of Law Program supported the Legal Aid Service (LAS) to hold a discussion in Kutaisi on the major challenges to access to justice in the Imereti region.

LAS Acting Director David Simonia, Head of LAS’s Kutaisi Bureau Gela Siordia, and seventeen lawyers and consultants from LAS’s Kutaisi and Zestaponi bureaus attended the meeting and shared their concerns about an effective, rapid, and timely justice system in the Imereti region.

As a result of the meeting, the participants agreed to create three working groups that will conduct an in-depth analysis of court practices in the region and how the LAS can work with courts to improve those practices. The members of the group will be lawyers and consultants from the Kutaisi and Zestaponi LAS offices.

The first working group will consider ways to ensure a speedy justice system by avoiding case delays and promoting the continuation of remote hearings in Imereti courts. Later, a working meeting with judges and judicial representatives will be organized. The practitioners believe joint meetings will be beneficial to deliver information on the existing challenges and discuss actions to solve the problem in the judicial system. 

The second working group will discuss the implementation of the Code on Child Rights, namely the right for the child to be heard and have legal representation, and the different practices of the Kutaisi and Tbilisi Court of Appeals on the separation of children. The lawyers believe that a discussion should be organized with the participation of judges to improve court practices in the region. 

The third working group will be dedicated to improving the quality of translation services and creating a  list of eligible experts and specialists who can help lawyers to provide well-grounded evidence in court.

Three working group meetings will be held in the next month to outline the existing problems and prepare proposals for the judicial representatives.