The public defender is one of the most challenging and most important jobs in any democracy, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan stated on Friday.

As Kelly Degnan points out, the Public Defender’s constitutional mandate is to protect and defend the human rights of every Georgian citizen, which frequently does not sit well with the government or others.

“The public defender’s job is to speak truth to authority in defending the rights of citizens of Georgia and improving the systems and institutions that Georgia is building for its democracy. Not everyone is going to be happy with you. It is a job that takes tremendous courage, integrity, independence, and dedication.

The United States is very proud to have been able to support Nino Lomjaria and her excellent professional team over the course of her term in helping the Public Defender’s Office strengthen its systems to be more responsive to the needs of Georgian citizens, to be better able and equipped to meet its constitutional obligation to protect and defend the human rights of every Georgian citizen.

This is a great privilege for the United States to have been able to support an office that is so fundamentally important to each and every Georgian citizen,” the US Ambassador stated.

At today’s conference, the Ambassador remarked she was impressed by the extent of work done by the public defender’s office over the last five years.

She also expressed hope that the next public defender would be a qualified, independent, and devoted professional.

“Who has the courage to speak truth to power, and to represent the people of Georgia the way Nino Lomjaria and her team have done,” she added.