Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee elects acting head after controversial resignation

The Georgian Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee has elected former deputy head of the committee David Matikashvili as acting head until the spring session, before the committee launches discussions on the controversial list of judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Matikashvili took the post in the wake of the resignation of the former head of the committee Eka Beselia on 27 December, who explained her leaving the post because of the nomination of judges with “politically motivated cases and biased verdicts.”

Leading figures of the Georgian Dream ruling party, Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and the head of the political council of the party Bidzina Ivanishvili among them, have criticised Beselia for connecting her resignation with the issue of the judges and stated that it was decided in the summer that she would quit the post.

The High Council of Justice had explained its decision regarding the list of judges because of the lack of judges in the Supreme Court. 

However, Beselia continues to say that the judges were the reason.

Vice Parliament Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili and other members of the party stated that the parliament will meet with the public request and the selection procedures for judges will be refined by the spring session.

Parliament postponed discussions concerning the list until the spring session after several members of the body which selected the judges [the High Council of Justice], NGOs and several members of the ruling team came out against the list.

The non-judge members of the High Council of Justice, an independent body which is responsible for the appointment of judges in the country, Anna Dolidze and Nazi Janezashvili, have presented a bill today to parliament that would dictate how judges for the Supreme Court should be presented.

Backstory

• On 24 December the High Council of Justice nominated 10 judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia without previous consultations.
• The High Council of Justice claims that the list was prepared in a hasty manner as currently there are only 10 judges instead of 28 on the Supreme Court.
• On 26 December Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the list will not be discussed in an accelerated manner.
• On 27 December Beselia quit and after several days she nominated three candidates for the deputy head of the committee. However, the ruling team withdrew the one elected to the post nominated by Beselia “due to a violation of mandatory procedures.”
• The ruling team says that public demands will be taken into account when discussing the list.
• Lifetime appointment of judges was introduced by the Georgian Dream leadership in 2013-2014 to provide higher guarantees for judges and their fairness.