Appealing a criminal judgment in Georgia — appeal and cassation

A first-instance judgment that the appellant considers unlawful or unjustified can be appealed. The right to appeal belongs to the prosecutor, the superior prosecutor, the convicted person and their lawyer (Criminal Procedure Code, Article 292).

A judgment based on a jury verdict cannot be appealed under this procedure (Article 292, part 4) — it has its own procedure (Article 266).

Deadlines

If a conviction was delivered in the convicted person's absence, they can appeal within 1 month of being detained or appearing before the authorities, or of the judgment's announcement if they ask for the appeal to be heard without them (Article 292, part 3).

The appeal

• Filing an appeal does not suspend the execution of the judgment (Article 293, part 3).
• The appeal must state which provisions of the judgment are challenged, why they are unlawful or unjustified and what evidence supports the appellant's position (Article 293, part 2).
• The burden of proving that the judgment is unlawful or unjustified lies with the appellant (Article 297, sub-paragraph "b").
• New evidence can be examined by the Court of Appeals if it is especially important and it was objectively impossible to present it at first instance (Article 297, sub-paragraph "d").
• In cases of less grave crimes, and in appeals only for a reduced sentence, the court can decide without an oral hearing and reduce the sentence by up to one quarter (Article 295, part 7).

No change for the worse

If the case is heard on the appeal of the convicted person or their lawyer and the prosecution has not appealed, the Court of Appeals cannot make a decision unfavourable to the convicted person — for example, apply a stricter article or impose a harsher sentence (Article 298, part 3).

The cassation appeal

A judgment of the Court of Appeals can be challenged in cassation if it is unlawful — for example, if the Criminal Procedure Code was substantially breached, the act was wrongly classified, or the type or length of the sentence clearly does not match the nature of the act and the person of the convicted (Article 300).

A cassation appeal is admissible if the appellant shows one of the grounds listed in the law — for example, the case raises a legal problem whose resolution will help develop the law and uniform case law; the Court of Appeals heard the case with a significant breach of the rules that could have substantially affected the outcome; or the appellant is a convicted minor (Article 303, part 3). A ruling of inadmissibility is final (Article 303, part 4), and the cassation judgment is final and cannot be appealed (Article 307).