On 23 – 24 May, 2017, Council of Europe (CoE), within the EU funded project, with involvement of local and international consultants organized a two-day training on Witness Interrogation Standards under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) for Georgian judges.

The purpose of the training was to increase awareness of judges on universe of witness interrogation standards with recourse to case studies, introduce different aspects of the subject: access to a lawyer during interrogation, incitement to offend, interrogation and the prohibition on ill-treatment, standards governing the admissibility of evidence, the right to summon witnesses, restrictions on the manner in which witnesses are examined and hearsay and preliminary statements by absent witnesses.

As a result the judges got information on international standards on witness interrogation and are capable to apply those standards in criminal proceedings in line with best European practices.

The event was organized in the framework of the European Union – Council of Europe joint project “Application of the European Convention on Human Rights and harmonisation of national legislation and judicial practice in Georgia in line with European standards”, being implemented under the EU-CoE Partnership for Good Governance.