mikheil saakashvili  2013-05-29

President Mikheil Saakashvili. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–President Mikheil Saakashvili has again blocked a bill. This time it was a set of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code.

The president has remarks about two aspects of the draft: First about the dates when certain regulations will come into force. He suggests that the new regulation about a suspects right during searches should come into force a year earlier than September 1, 2014, which is written in the draft.

Another remark is about the part regarding evidence. The law currently says that if the defense has evidence which is of great important for the defense’s case, the court cannot prevent this evidence from being presented during the main trial sessions. The lawyer has a right not to present this evidence during the exchange process, when defense and plaintiff exchange evidence to get introduced and prepare responses.

The new bill will remove this article in the Criminal Procedure Code and therefore defense lawyers may be forced to present all the evidence during the exchange process.

Parliament has not yet debated the president’s corrections, but the Georgian Dream coalition has overturned Saakashvili’s vetoes several times since it came into power seven and a half months ago. The first time was in January regarding a mass amnesty.