Parliament Speaker denies connection between ruling party members’ withdraw and recent appointment of controversial judge

The Georgian Dream ruling party withdrew Gedevan Popkhadze from the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee yesterday.

Agenda.ge, 04 Jan 2019 - 11:34, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has denied any connection between the fact that the Legal Affairs Committee head Eka Beselia and its member Gedevan Popkhadze left the ruling party majority and the controversial process of appointing judges in the country.

The Georgian Dream ruling party withdrew Gedevan Popkhadze from the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee yesterday. The decision makes it impossible for him to take the post of deputy head of the committee, to which he was elected last week.

Leading figures of the ruling party, Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze among them, claimed that Popkhadze was elected deputy head of the committee through the violation of mandatory procedures.

On the other hand, head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee Eka Beselia, who put forward Popkhadze’s candidacy as the deputy head of the committee, left the post on 27 December, “because of the unacceptable process related to [appointing] judges.

The High Council of Justice (HCJ), an independent body responsible for the selection and appointment of judges, has appointed Levan Murusidze, a judge disliked by the civil sector and many in the Georgian Dream ruling party, as a lifetime judge to the Court of Appeals.

Kobakhidze, however, says that the ruling party members’ withdraw is not related to the judges appointment process.

“The decision has two reasons. One was the violation of mandatory procedures while electing Popkhadze to the post of the first deputy head of the committee which is confirmed by every qualified lawyer. The second reason is related to the issue of how committed he has been to the team and this has been discussed inside the party,” Kobakhidze said.

He has emphasised that those who connect this fact to the process of judge appointment ‘are not well informed or politically speculating.’