Parliament Postpones Consideration of Supreme Court Candidates until Spring

Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the legislative body will discuss the candidates of the Supreme Court of Georgia presented by the High Council of Justice (HCOJ) on December 24, during the spring session.

He explained that the postponement is to ensure the staffing of the Supreme Court with highly qualified personnel.

“The Parliament of Georgia will not make a decision regarding the judicial candidates at the current session. The Parliament will return to this issue immediately after the beginning of the spring session,” he said.

On 24 December, eight HCOJ members supported ten judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia without notifying non-judge members of the council.

Non-judge members Anna Dolidze and Nazi Janezashvili called the list “shameful”, adding the presented candidates did not have a good reputation for their “biased judiciary.”

The Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary, composed of around 40 NGOs, released a statement, calling on Parliament to suspend consideration of the Supreme Court candidates.

The NGOs said that Parliament should start working on the legislative amendments that will bring the rules and criteria for the selection of judges of the Supreme Court in compliance with the Constitution and international standards.

“The current crisis in the Georgian Judicial System is partially the result of the legislation adopted by Parliament within the past several years," the NGOs stated. "A particular shortcoming of the legislation is that it is tailored to the needs of the dominant group of judges and the absence of will from the parliament to implement basic reforms. Since the Council requires the consent of Parliament to appoint the nominated candidates to the Supreme Court, the legislative body has a decisive role in preventing the justice system in the country from becoming even more closed and not to support justice influenced by undue interests.”

Public Defender Nino Lomjaria also criticized the selection process of the judges, saying it was “incompatible with the Constitution.”

“In this case, the Supreme Court judges were nominated so that nobody was informed about their selection criteria or why others were not selected," said Lomjaria.

She stated that since the Supreme Court plays an important role in the protection of human rights and in fact determines the policy of justice in the country, it is of great importance that the judges appointed there have high legitimacy.

By Thea Morrison