Article 208 of the Criminal Procedural Code

Article 208 of the Criminal Procedural Code dealing with the liability for violation the order in the court building has been the topic of long discussion. The article was widely interpreted by the judges at general courts. Subsequently, the fundamental values were abused, like the right on the just trial. Wide interpretation resulted into restriction of the freedom of speech having used the 'unjust' procedures.

It is obvious, that the attendant, having disrespected the judge, should be tried by another judge. In this case, the principle of the biased decision should be maintained. Both our Constitution and the judiciary experience on human rights in western countries demands the same.

On the basis of the article 208, the judge should not pass the verdict without court hearing. The offender should be able to make statements to the court to protect his/her right of appealing the court and exercising the just trial.

Georgian Constitution declares and protects the right of appealing the court decision. According to the article 208 of the Georgian Criminal Procedural Code, the person, charged under this law, should have the right to appeal the verdict.

We think that the question of sanctioning the person is to be further discussed. Although the word 'disrespect' has quite a large meaning, it should be more sensible to restrict the judge's discretion and to establish less severe punishments for the first occasion (warning, dismissal from the courtroom). In general, since the Georgian Criminal Procedural Code, Article 208 protects the process of the justice and aims at normal functioning of the court, the dismissal of the person, who violates the order, is quite enough to resolve the problem. Besides that, there can be an exception in sentencing an offender to administrative imprisonment (maximum ten days) if s/he has violated the order for several times during discussion of one case. The imprisoned person must have blatantly expressed his/her disrespect to the court too.