US Embassy reminds ruling party of moratorium on nomination of new judges to Supreme Court
The US Embassy has several times called for a moratorium for election of new judges in the Georgian Supreme Court. Photo: US Embassy press office.
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The US Embassy to Georgia has posted the highlighted text of the April 19 EU-mediated agreement between Georgian political parties to counter the position of the ruling Georgian Dream party that the parliament should continue the election of new judges in the Georgian Supreme Court.
The EU-mediated agreement which was signed by the ruling party and six opposition parties to resolve the several-month, election-related political tension in the country, proposes large-scale judiciar reforms and a moratorium for new judges in the Supreme Council until new laws are adopted.
On APR 19 GD & opposition parties agreed ”ongoing appointments shall be paused” and committed to comprehensive & inclusive judicial reform & new legislation on Supreme Court nominations.https://t.co/qm1UyFaRwG pic.twitter.com/BETz5judMG
— U.S. Embassy Tbilisi (@usingeo) June 23, 2021
The EU and US embassies have several times disapproved of the decision of Georgia’s High Council of Justice, a body which selects and appoints judges around the country, to select new candidates for the Supreme Court and present them in parliament for a vote.
The embassies, like the country’s opposition, stated that the process of election of new members in the High Council of Justice and in the Supreme Court should be paused before the full implementation of the EU-mediated agreement.
The ruling Georgian Dream party stated yesterday that the parliament should continue the election of new judges to the Georgian Supreme Court because the state legislature adopted major judiciary laws before signing the EU-mediated agreement and that the amendments were approved by the CoE’s Venice Commission.
Ruling party chair Irakli Kobakhidze says that recently adopted laws ensure the fair election process for Supreme Court judges. Photo: Irakli Kobakhidze's Facebook page.
The party said that the election of new judges in the Supreme Court did not contradict the EU-mediated agreement.
Leader of the Strategy Agmashenebeli opposition party Giorrgi Vashadze has stated that the ‘US embassy has once again rejected the lie of the ruling party on judges.’
Leader of the Lelo Partnership for Georgia parliamentary faction Salome Samadashvili stated earlier today that she will raise the issue of judges during the faction's ongoing meetings in Washington.
She reiterated that the High Council of Justice is run by a clan of judges and stated that there will be the need of imposing targeted sanctions against the judges who support the clan.
The Georgian High Council of Justice (HCJ), an independent body which selects and appoints judges around the country, has selected nine candidates for judge in the Supreme Court despite the calls of foreign diplomats and the opposition to pause the process.
Four individuals have been elected to Georgia’s High Council of Justice earlier today amid a rally of civic activists and the calls of the US and the EU ambassadors to pause the process.
The ruling party says that it supports appointing of judges to the country’s supreme court despite calls from the opposition to place a moratorium on the process. Chair of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze said earlier today that the process would not be paused because the party has already fulfilled several conditions stipulated by the agreement between the opposition and the ruling party.
The appointment of judges to the Supreme Court by the Georgian High Council of Justice (HCJ) must be stopped temporarily until fundamental reforms are implemented in the judiciary and a wide discussion of the issue is held, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said earlier today at a conference of the International Society for Fair Elections And Democracy (ISFED) on Digital Election Campaign and Information Manipulations in Georgia.
Georgian judges have released a joint statement in which they condemn what they say is a ‘politically motivated and unhealthy process which aims to discredit the Georgian judiciary.’ The letter by 310 judges comes in response to statements from the opposition, NGOs and foreign embassies which call for a moratorium on the election of new judges to the Georgian Supreme Court and the High Council of Justice (HCJ) until the ‘full implementation’ of the April 19 EU-mediated agreement.
The Georgian parliament has appointed six judges to the country’s Supreme Court, despite calls from the opposition, NGOs and the international community to suspend the process in compliance with the EU-mediated agreement which put an end to six months of political tension over the country’s October 2020 parliamentary elections. Parliament made the decision at today’s session, which was delayed after opposition activists and NGO representatives entered parliament and occupied the speaker’s seat, demanding the resignation of PM Garibashvili.
NGOs have claimed that the ruling Georgian Dream party does not want the independence of the judiciary, following the appointment of six judges to the Supreme Court by the Georgian parliament yesterday, despite the calls from opposition, NGOs and the international community to place a moratorium on the process, in line with the EU-mediated agreement, which ended the political standoff caused by the parliamentary elections of October 2020.
The US Embassy to Georgia has stated that the appointment of judges to the country’s Supreme Court is ‘extremely disappointing,’ noting that Georgian leaders, including the ruling Georgian Dream party, failed to fulfil the obligation under the April 19 EU-mediated agreement which ended months of political standoff. The Georgian parliament appointed six judges out of nine candidates to the country’s Supreme Court on July 12, despite calls from the international community, NGOs and opposition to place a moratorium on the process.
The US State Department has called on the Georgian government to suspend the process of the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, urging the authorities to implement the April 19 EU-mediated agreement which ended months of a political standoff caused by the parliamentary elections of 2020. The US State Department says that ‘comprehensive, transparent, and inclusive judicial reform’ must be carried out before the process can continue.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says all conditions of the EU-mediated agreement ending months of political standoff in April 2021 have been fulfilled amid the US State Department’s criticism over the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court. The agreement had called for a moratorium on the appointment of judges before the implementation of wide-scale judicial reforms.
Four MPs in the United National Movement parliamentary faction - the largest opposition in Georgia’s lawmaking body - on Wednesday left the group following their vote for three new, non-judge members in the country’s High Council of Justice enabled the ruling party-backed candidates to receive necessary support in the session.
Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian Parliament's Vice Speaker, on Wednesday said the ruling Georgian Dream party would “explain” to the country’s European partners the domestic opposition’s “sabotage” of prospects of Georgia fulfilling conditions for receiving the European Union membership candidate status.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday claimed the domestic “radical” opposition was “doing everything” to prevent the country from receiving the European Union membership candidate status.