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Despite repeated promises of their return, Georgia still has no jury trials.

That means, in a sense, there is no jury to prejudice through the nightly broadcast of televised confessions by alleged criminals in Georgia.

But that is hardly an excuse for creating a legal system where the police and the leading national television station daily declare the guilt of the accused through posed video (look at the way the money is spread out here) and confession quite obviously given by people in great distress.

This latest case involves the allegation of a doctor accepting money to hand over a baby - a serious crime, if true, in anybody's book. But if this video had been broadcast in any western country the doctor would be walking free and the police chief and the TV news editor would be handing in their resignation.

The seriousness of the crime is no excuse for abusing justice in this way.