Supreme Court Chairman on Tbilisi Mayor’s case

The Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Konstantin Kublashvili says he has heard about no pressure on the judge who suspended Tbilisi Mayor Giorgi Gigi Ugulava from his post and sentenced him with a 50 thousand GEL fine instead of detention.

"All of you know what my reactions were in the past, when there were the facts of such kind of interferences. So far, I have not heard that anything has happened in this case. If it is proved that something has actually happened, I personally will strictly control this and will make sure this kind of things do not happen in the future. The main thing is that first I should be told that it happened, Kublashvili said.

The Chairman of the Supreme Court also expressed his opinion about the fact that the court made a decision on suspending the Mayor from the post without attendance of the party representatives.

"The courts decision is within the law. The law gives them the right to make a decision without an oral hearing. If you think that I was supposed to tell them not to do so, now this would be a violation and interference. This would be a mistake and interference into a judges independency. We have to respect the courts decision. The sides only like the parts of the decisions that are convenient for them, but they do not like whatever is objective but not convenient for them, Konstantin Kublashvili said.

The Tbilisi Mayor, Gigi Ugualva was suspended from his mayoral post on December 22. The decision was made by the judge who also held the hearing on the second motion of the prosecution and did not sentence Ugulava to detention. Instead of this, Judge Dali Metreveli released Ugulava on 50 thousand GEL bail.Ugulava is charged with embezzlement of GEL 48 million GEL (28 million USD) of public money.