28 April, 2011 - 21:23

GYLA Prepares Journalist's Complaint to be Submitted to Strasbourg Court

Levan Zhorzholiani

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) is preparing journalist Vakhtang Komakhidze's complaint on the confidentiality of information about Georgian Justice Minister's bonus to be lodged to the European Court of Human Rights.

Zurab Adeishvili, the Minister of Justice of Georgia was re-appointed to the position on November 2, 2008.

Vakhtang Komakhidze requested the information on the amount of the Minister's bonus in December 2009 but his request was dismissed citing personal information included in the requested data as a motive. Komakhidze applied to the Tbilisi City Court to defend his right to obtain public information but the court, having shared the Ministry's stance, dismissed the journalist's complaint.

Vakhtang Komakhidze, indicting Georgian authorities for his persecution, left the country in February 2010 to seek asylum in Switzerland.

Reporting to Media.ge Tamar Kordzaya, specialist in media law of GYLA said the Georgian courts of all instances recognized the information on the Minister's bonus as a personal data and refused to make it public. GYLA is providing legal aid to journalists.

According to the GYLA survey in 2008-2010 the courts examined 81 cases related to the denial on public information. Only five cases out of the given figure ended up in favor of citizens. The presentation of the results of the survey was held on April 28 at Radisson Hotel Tbilisi. The fourth survey is being carried out within the framework of the Accountability and Supporting Transparency in Georgia project funded by the Open Society Institute.

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