TBILISI, DFWatch – A new report shows that Georgian courts do not works as intended, and judges are sometimes more concerned with getting finished soon than with making a fair decision.

The report by Transparency International Georgia found that in in 92.6 percent of cases ruling went partially or fully in favor of the state.

Researchers also found that judges lacked initiative and did not show sufficient willingness to make use of the inquisitorial principle, which means that the judge actively questions the parties to find out what really happened.

Even more worrying, judges sometimes were more interested in getting the court case over with as soon as possible, than with making a fair decision.

On the positive side, the report notes that with a few exceptions, the principle of transparent court hearings was not violated in Tbilisi and Batumi city court. The researchers also write that the principle of competitiveness was ensured in most of the cases. This means that the parties had the possibility to present their arguments, make statements, re-check evidence, ask questions to witnesses and a few other procedures.

The report was presented June 14 and deals with so-called administrative court cases in the period from October 2011 to February 2012.