Georgia Selects New Candidates for Strasburg Court

The Georgian government has selected two new candidates from the four shortlisted for the position of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) candidate judges from Georgia.

Georgia’s Ministry of Justice reports that a deputy head of the Court Lali Papiashvili and a judge of the Court of Appeals, a former judge of the Constitutional Court Otar Sichinava, were picked out of the candidates.

Together with previously selected Lado Chanturia, all three candidates will be presented to the Council of the ECHR, and if approved, the European Court will choose only one to become the Strasburg Court judge from Georgia.

Lali Papiashvili and Otar Sichinava, along with the other two candidates, were selected by a special commission from the list of 28 applicants.

The decision came after the ECHR; for different reasons, rejected twice the Georgian candidates, meaning the special governmental commission had to announce an opening for the third time.

NGO's 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 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.

By Thea Morrison