At Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) in cooperation with the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights (Siracusa Institute), a regional training program on atrocity crimes - "REACT" was held on June 18-27, 2024. The program aimed to enhance the qualifications of Georgian prosecutors and investigators in national and international criminal law.

The Siracusa Institute is an authoritative research and educational institution in the field of international and comparative criminal justice and human rights. As a partner of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, and other international organizations, the Siracusa Institute has been providing specialized courses, scientific and research projects for over 50 years worldwide to combat transnational threats and impunity for international crimes, and to protect human rights.

The project "REACT", implemented for the first time in Georgia, is a pilot training program initiated by the Siracusa Institute. Participants included investigators and prosecutors from the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, the Special Investigation Service, and the State Security Service. During the two-week training sessions, they acquired practical knowledge related to the specifics of investigating and prosecuting particular atrocity crimes.

Georgian prosecutors and investigators were trained by foreign experts, including: Alice Zago – Head of Unified Team, Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; Anne van Dooren – Public Prosecutor at the National Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Netherlands; Peter-Michael Gaedeke – Public Prosecutor, German Federal Prosecution Office; Sarah Coquillaud – Legal Officer, Kosovo Specialist Prosecutor’s Office; Colonel Thibaud Fritz, Chief of the Forensic Human Identification Division, The Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie of France; Julie André – Judicial Cooperation Advisor, Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; Philip Trewhitt – Executive Director Institute for International Criminal Investigations; Joseph Powderly and Larissa van den Herik – Professors of Public International Law at Leiden University, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies; Givi Bagdavadze – Head of the International Co-operation Unit at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, and Giorgi Dgebuadze – Associate Professor and Deputy Dean of the TSU Faculty of Law.

The training covered topics such as: Legal rules for the use of various types of evidence and admissibility criteria in War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide, and Aggression; Practical skills in developing an investigation plan; Prosecuting high-ranking state officials in International Criminal Courts; Special rules on collecting evidence in sexual and gender-based violence cases; Challenges in Georgia's domestic legal system with regard to atrocity crimes; Significance of international cooperation and legal assistance in prosecuting atrocity crimes. 

The training program in Georgia was conducted between the TSU and the Siracusa Institute under a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the TSU Rector, Academician Jaba Samushia and the President of the Siracusa Institute Jean-François Thony. The Institute for Comparative and Transnational Criminal Law of the TSU Faculty of Law cooperates with the Siracusa Institute on behalf of the TSU. In the implementation process of the training program, the following individuals were involved: Filippo Musca – Director General of the Siracusa Institute; the Institute’s staff: Ashot Agaian and Carolina Seguino; Natia Merebashvili – Deputy Prosecutor General of Georgia; Mirian Megrelishvili – Head of the Professional Development Center of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia; Rusudan Tsagareli – a member of the TSU Faculty of Law and Giorgi Dgebuadze – Deputy Dean, Associate Professor. This event was planned during Giorgi Dgebuadze’s working visit to the Siracusa Institute. Further joint research, educational, and academic activities are planned between the TSU and the Siracusa Institute in the near future.