On 30-31 October 2017 in Tbilisi, the trainers of the High School of Justice of Georgia participated in a Training of Trainers on International Humanitarian Law. The objective of the training was to prepare for the pilot training on the topic scheduled to take place in December.

The training was conducted by Ms Marela Jevtovic, international consultant, and Ms Tamar Tomashvili national consultant. It was attended by the trainers of the High School of Justice who will serve as future trainers in the course. The training included the introduction to the International Humanitarian Law and the International Criminal Court, the notions of war crimes and crimes against humanity, status of combatants and persons directly participating in hostilities, as well as the responsibility of commanders.

In the words of one of the trainers, Mr Shota Bichia, judge of the Zugdidi District Court: ‘it was essential to thoroughly elaborate on details related to different types of conflicts, grounds for the detention of combatants in such conflicts, as well as the issue of command responsibility, which to some extent differs from the definition of responsibility in regular criminal cases’. As a result of the two-day training, the structure and the agenda of the pilot training were agreed, along with individual trainers’ assignments.

The activity was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the capacity of the High School of Justice of Georgia”. This Project is funded by the voluntary contributions of Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, the Slovak Republic and Sweden to support the implementation of the Council of Europe Action plan for Georgia 2016-2019.