The Legal Issues Committee discussed with the I reading and in an expedited manner the Draft Criminal Code of Practice, re-regulating the seizure of the property for the purpose of the criminal process; the Draft has been developed deriving from the Order of the Constitutional Court.

As the Draft stipulates: the criminally acquired property or the property the offense has been committed to which may be subject to seizure, if: a) a substantiated assumption indicates that the hereof property will be used for a new crime; b) a substantiated assumption indicates that the hereof property will be damaged or destructed; c) a substantiated assumption indicates the hereof property will be hidden, alienated or spent; d) the seizure is necessary for its possible deprivation since a standard of proof of a substantiated assumption confirms all circumstances necessary for the deprivation of the property under Article 52 of the Criminal Code.

According to the Chair of the Committee and one of the authors of the Draft, Anri Okhanashvili, the consideration of the legitimate objectives shall be held not in a general manner leading to the guaranteed prohibition of the use or the disposal but providing the individual approach according to the goal of the Prosecutor’s Office and the purpose for the Court to satisfy the petition.

“We offer that the prohibition of the automated disposal shall not mean the prohibition of the use. In case of the substantiated assumption that the property is to be used for a new crime or is to be hidden, alienated or spent, then the seizure will prohibit the owner from the disposal of the property and if necessary, from the use of the property as well”, - he noted.

The Draft prescribes that the criminally acquired property or the property the offense has been committed to which may be subject to seizure in three stages, the term for each of the stages constituting 12 months. Besides, if the procedures on the legal aid as envisaged under the Law on International Cooperation in Criminal Sphere have been commenced, the seizure shall be ensured in five stages with the term of each of them as 12 months.

The prosecution shall appeal to the Court with the petition for the seizure at each upcoming stage.

The Draft is initiated by Anri Okhanashvili, David Matikashvili, Irakli Shatakishvili, Rati Ionatamishvili, Mikheil Sarjveladze, Aluda Gudushauri, Giorgi Amilakhvari, Alexander Tabatadze, Nino Iobashvili, Guram Macharashvili and Pridon Injia.