Special Commission Selects Candidates for Strasburg Court
Four people have been shortlisted by the special commission from the 28 applicants’ list of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) candidate judges from Georgia.
The highest scores were received by Lali Papiashvili (4.82) followed by Tamar Alania (4.45). The other two candidates, Otar Sichinava and Ioseb Bachiashvili, each received 3.75.
From the four, the government of Georgia will choose two. In total, Georgia will present three candidates to the ECHR for approval. The third candidate is Lado Chanturia, who was the only one approved by the Strasburg Court from the previously presented candidates.
The third sector refused to participate in the selection process of judges, saying the process was neither transparent nor impartial enough.
The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) released a statement before the contest, saying they would not take part in the work of the special commission headed by the Justice Ministry, and calling on the Georgian government to change the rules and procedures for forming the commission.
“With such a composition and procedures, the commission failed to fulfill its task twice before. It could not carry out a strict, fair and transparent contest to choose such candidates that would be approved by the Council of the ECHR,” the statement reads.
Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili, a member of the special commission, doubts the ECHR will approve the newly-selected candidates, as it rejected the previous ones.
“There are no clear and specific criteria by which the competition process is assessed. In the end, we get such an outcome - qualified candidates keeping away from the leading positions,” Nanuashvili said, adding there had been a number of violations, as during the previous contests.
The Head of the Lawyers’ Association, Zaza Khatiashvili, says the contest of ECHR candidates was a “farce” and he refused to take part.
“The commission members agreed in advance which candidates would be selected,” he claimed.
“Georgia is the first country to have its candidates rejected by the Strasburg Court twice. The government failed to understand its mistakes and left the composition of the commission unchanged even during the third contest,” he stated.
From three candidates selected last autumn, Aleksandre Baramidze, Nana Mchedlidze and Giorgi Badashvili, the Strasburg Court disapproved of Mchedlidze. After this, the ministry substituted Mchedlidze with Eva Gotsiridze, but on January 24, the ECHR rejected all three candidates, saying none of them was suitable for the position.
In May, the commission chose three candidates but only Lado Chanturia was approved by the European Court, with the other two, Sophio Japaridze and Shota Getsadze, named as too young and lacking in experience.
Thea Morrison