On March 23-24, in Batumi, with the support from the European Union (EU) and the South Caucasus Field Presence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a bench-bar on banning torture was held for lawyers of the Legal Aid Service (LAS).
Director of the Legal Aid Service Razhden Kuprashvili and OHCHR Projects Manager Sophio Benashvili addressed the bench-bar participants with welcome notes.
At the event, the Deputy Director of the LAS David Simonia presented a report on access to free legal aid for victims / potential victims of torture and ill-treatment.
The participants also heard from the OHCHR Human Rights National Officer Besarion Bokhashvili about the latest standards on the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment under the International Human Rights Law. The public advocates were actively involved in the panel discussion held on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. They also talked over the reasons for the prevention of torture, the conditions of detention, and the substantiation of court decisions.