“The Polish expert of the Moscow Mechanism was present at our Ministry for one hour, during which I attended a meeting. It is simply impossible for the issues addressed in a report of this magnitude to have been thoroughly covered in just one hour,” stated Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili before the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations.

MP Nikoloz Samkharadze asked Beka Dzamashvili regarding several entries in the conclusions of the Moscow Mechanism, asking the Deputy Minister whether the Polish expert had visited penitentiary institutions, among other places.

“We provided them with information regarding the Strasbourg statistics, the positive trends, and also sent them the relevant sources for their use as needed, given that they were required to assess the overall state of human rights across the country. However, as we observed, the information provided by the state does not appear in the report. The information therein is presented one-sidedly; one might say, from a personal standpoint. From a legal perspective, when conclusions of this nature are drawn, the UN and the Council of Europe follow a different methodology, one that requires in-depth deliberation grounded in documentation. It is physically impossible to process material of this volume and produce a report within one or two weeks,” Dzamashvili stated.

Opposition MP Giorgi Sharashidze also put a question to the Deputy Minister of Justice regarding a further section of the Moscow Mechanism expert’s conclusions, concerning the events of November and December 2024.

“It may be that some people today feel that something was violated, but we explained to this expert that this was a matter under active investigation, and that if these individuals have any grievances, including regarding the effectiveness of the investigation, they were at liberty to bring them either to the UN or to the Strasbourg court. This case has not come before us to date; we are aware only through media reports that a complaint has apparently been filed. Once the European Court has examined the matter based on the facts, it will then be possible to make assertions in a conclusive form. Until that point, one may say that these are merely the assessments and perceptions of certain individuals, but to record, as fact, what was written in the Moscow Mechanism report was erroneous from the outset, given that no authoritative body had carried out an assessment. In this instance, I am not in a position to offer an assessment, as the matter is under investigation; no conclusive evaluation can be made until the investigation is complete.

Should anyone have doubts regarding the effectiveness of the investigation, the path to international bodies is open to them, and the state will set out its position on this matter before those bodies,” stated Beka Dzamashvili.