President re-nominates Supreme Court Judge candidates

Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili is standing behind the candidates he nominated as Supreme Court Judges and is re-nominating them to the post, despite the candidates being rejected by lawmakers in August.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili confirmed he would re-nominate Nino Bakakuri and Zurab Dzlierishvili as candidates for the top judging position.

He hoped they would be accepted by Parliament of Georgia and approved for the role.

On August 1 he first announced Bakakuri and Dzlierishvili as his nominees for the Supreme Court Judge role. Each needed at least 76 votes to be approved for the position.

However this did not happen. During the voting process, 29 members of Parliament voted in favour of Bakakuri and 27 voted for Dzlierishvili.

If they fail to be confirmed again the President will no longer have the right to re-nominate the same candidates.

Candidate Bakakuri has worked as a lawyer for 16 years and has three years working experience as a judge. From 1998 to 2004 she worked for the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) as a lawyer and legal adviser.

Bakakuri obtained her Masters in Law at Columbia University´s Law School in New York. She has spent time as a researcher at Georgetown University Law School in international law and is a member of the New York Lawyers Association. She is also a lecturer in comparative corporate law, corporate governance and business law at various universities.

The other candidate, Dzlierishvili, is a Doctor of Law and has been a member of the Ethics Committee of the Bar Association since 2009. He is an arbiter of the Tbilisi Arbitration Institute, has many years teaching experience and has penned many research and scientific articles.