On July 31, research on the legal basis of provocation of a crime and on local and international court practice was published with the support of Open Society Georgia Foundation and the Association of Law Firms of Georgia.

Provocation of a crime implies the encouragement of others to commit an offence and to bring criminal charges against them. Authors of the research analysed practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Courts of Georgia in relation to this issue. 

In the course of the research, they studied the criminal proceedings of 12 criminal cases since 2014, where the offense could have been provoked. These cases were related to commercial bribery, drug offenses, giving and taking bribes. The research revealed that there are a number of shortcomings in Georgian legislation and practice regarding the prohibition of provoking a crime that does not meet the European standards of human rights. In particular, the Strasbourg Court underscores the fact that it is inadmissible to use the evidence obtained by provoking the offense in the court. However, the same approach in Georgian legislation and practice is not shared.

Accordingly, the authors of the research prepared individual recommendations on the basis of which legislative amendments were developed. These recommendations will assist the Parliament in rectifying existing shortcomings in legislation, as well as the Prosecutor's Office, the defence and the courts, to develop the uniform and organized practice corresponding to international human rights standards.

The research was conducted with the support of Open Society Georgia Foundation.