Tbilisi Public Defenders Trained on Jury Trial

December 2012

In anticipation of the introduction of jury trials in aggravated murder cases in Tbilisi this year, the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) coordinated with Georgia’s Legal Aid Service Bureau to identify and train 11 of the city’s most active legal aid attorneys on defending murder-case clients in jury trials. Ten of the bureau’s attorneys and one of its volunteer attorneys took part in the training. Local and international experts—including in Georgian criminal law—led the eight sessions, which were held between March and August 2012.

The sessions featured lectures on case analysis, objections, DNA analysis and protecting defendants from possible prosecutorial misconduct. Most of the sessions concluded with the participants taking part in practical group exercises, acting out the roles of prosecutors and defense attorneys on hypothetical cases. Supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, ABA ROLI’s work in Georgia helps increase the capacity of the country’s defense attorneys to represent clients under the country’s 2010 Criminal Procedure Code, which introduced an adversarial criminal justice system.

To learn more about our work in Georgia, contact the ABA Rule of Law Initiative at rol@americanbar.org.