According to the organization “Young Barristers”, due to offenses under the Georgian Criminal Code, from sanctions (fines and penalties), including from plea bargains in favor of the state budget, the amount paid by the citizens in 2014 equaled to 29,730,410,13 GEL, which after the October 1, 2012 political changes in the government, compared to 2010-2013, has been reduced significantly.

According to statement of lawyer of the “Young Barristers” – Ana Kiknadze, the rate of criminal cases concluded with plea bargains, in 2011-2013, has not changed considerably, however, up to December 10 of 2014 year, the amount entered into the budget from plea bargains is 3 times less than in 2011. According to the information, the amount entered into the budget due to offenses, sanctions (fines and penalties), including from plea bargains is: 82,357,578,51 GEL (2011 year), 73,619,600.11 GEL (2012 year), 68,111,954.07 GEL (2013 year) and in 2014, the amount of GEL 29,730,410.13.

According to evaluation of the organization, such situation may has several explanations. The reason of reducing plea bargains may be the fact that a fine is used rarely as a punishment. Furthermore, the trend indicates that the court is much free regarding protection of individual principle during discussing criminal cases. It should be noted that the current trend points to the circumstance that the goal of the state is no longer to fill the budget at the expense of the defendants, with whom forming plea bargains, in the past, was the main purpose of the prosecution.

The “Young Barristers” studied information on criminal cases concluded with a plea bargain. For example, Tbilisi City Court examined 3905 cases in 2014 year, which compared with previous years has also dramatically reduced. The court completed 5677 cases with the plea agreement in 2013, in 2012 - 3811 cases, while the rate in 2011 was 5745 cases.

The organization examined data of 2011-2014 years’ cases of Tbilisi Appeal and City Courts, including disputes completed with settlement:

• Cases discussed by the Chamber for Administrative Cases of Tbilisi Court of Appeals: 2011 year – 2893 case, 2012 year - 1963 case, 2013 year - 1943 case, 2014 year - 2359 case.
• Cases discussed by the Chamber for Civil Cases of Tbilisi Court of Appeals: 2011 year - 4880, 2012 year - 5030, 2013 year - 6593, 2014 year 6395.
• Cases discussed by the Chamber for Criminal Cases of Tbilisi Court of Appeals: 2011 year - 1071 case, 2012 year - 1621 case, 2013 year - 4704 case, 2014 year - 981 case.
• Cases completed with agreement in the Chamber for Administrative Cases of Tbilisi Court of Appeals: 2011 year - 4 case, 2012 year - 2 case, 2013 year - 2 case, 2014 year - 1 case.
• Cases completed with agreement in the Chamber for Civil Cases of Tbilisi Court of Appeals: 2011 year - 176 case, 2012 year - 140 case, 2013 year - 120 case, 2014 year - 112 case.

For more information: the “Young Barristers” prepared the analysis based on the information of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia, Tbilisi City Court and Tbilisi Court of Appeals.