Georgian President nominates new Chair of Supreme Court

Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has introduced the candidate who will become the new chair of the Supreme Court, if supported by Parliament.

Nino Gvenetadze, a lawyer with six years’ experience as a Supreme Court Judge, was named by the President today.

Margvelashvili said among the 28 candidates nominated and discussed for the role, Gvenetadze was the "best fit”. 

The President had to choose the new chairperson of the Supreme Court, as the 10-year term of incumbent chairman Konstantine Kublashvili will expire on February 23, 2015. 

• Meanwhile, Doctor of Law, Professor Gvenetadze, 51, is a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Germany. She is also head of Master and PhD programs at the School of Law of Tbilisi-based Georgian American University.
• During her career she has also led the Judicial Conference of Georgia – the self-governance organ of common courts judges, and the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) – one of Georgia’s leading non-governmental organisations (NGO).
• At today’s introduction, President Margvelashvili said Gvenetadze was an expert of the European Union’s project and she was one of the people involved in the criminal justice reform in Georgia.

Gvenetadze’s candidature was offered to the President by the following NGOs: Human Rights Center, Public Advocacy, Youth for Justice, Human Rights Priority, Media Institute and Union of Lawyer Women.

The NGOs collectively said Gvenetadze was an outstanding candidate with her "high qualification in the field of law, successful and long-term experience in the field of justice, with her principality, fairness and impregnability”.

"The most significant is that she is not member of any political party – that is another value added to her impartiality and objectivity in such a significant profession,” they said.

NGOs also noted Gvenetadze had worked as a judge at the Supreme Court and also as a leader of the conference of judges.

"During her performance in the positions mentioned above, since 2005 she has fought for the independence of judiciary authority in Georgia for what she became persecuted for under the previous government. She was dismissed from her position based on political motives.

"To express solidarity to the judges [who challenged] the faulty judiciary system in 2006, Gvenetadze joined the coalition of NGOs Civil Society for Democratic Georgia, where she fought for independent and fair justice in Georgia together with other civil society groups.”

Before Gvenetadze can be officially appointed the role, she must be endorsed by Parliament. If Gvenetadze gains the support of at least 76 Members of Parliament, then she will be approved as chairperson of the Supreme Court of Georgia.