Eka Beselia Resigns Her Post as Chair of Legal Affairs Committee

At a briefing in Parliament on Thursday, MP Eka Beselia announced she would be stepping down from her position as chairperson of the Parliament's Legislative Affairs Committee. 

Beselia noted that her deputy chairperson, Vano Zardiashvili, would also be stepping down.

“I hope that the Legislative Affairs Committee, which is a very important committee, will choose a candidate for chairperson of this committee who will be unbreakable, fair and follow values," said Beselia. Later in the day, Beselia nominated Gedevan Popkhadze for the role.

She later told reporters that she resigned in response to "the hasty and unjustified process of appointing Supreme Court judges for life."

“I made the decision to leave the position of the Chairperson of the Legislative Affairs Committee. With this decision we stopped the process, which I think, was very harmful – the process of appointing Supreme Court judges for life. I made this decision to let the public see the transparent process and be involved in the selection process of judges with good reputations,” explained Beselia.

Beselia was dissapointed by the list of judges submitted by the Supreme Council of Justice, which she said included judges who had participated in politically motivated cases.

A working group will be set up in the Parliament to work to make the process of Supreme Court judge appointment transparent, fair and right.

After she announced her resignation, Parliamentary Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze said “We know the reasons behind Eka Beselia’s decision to step down. The reasons are mostly in-house, but we will share them in part [with the public]. I am refraining from making any specific statements today. It is not reasonable to make remarks on the same day the resignation is announced. However, I promise you that we will go back to these reasons and we will have a conversation with the public about this."

Rumors then swirled that Beselia was planning to leave the ruling Georgian Dream party. She quickly denied the rumors, emphasizing that she helped found the party, but left room for speculation as to whether she will leave Parliament all together, saying, "As for my future place in the Parliament, I will talk about it after the New Year holiday."

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: Agenda

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