Supreme Court chair elected as new head of High Council of Justice
Only one member of the High Council of Justice voted against the new chair. Photo: reginfo.
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Supreme Court chair Nino Kadagidze has been elected as the head of Georgia’s High Council of Justice, an independent body which is responsible for the selection and appointment of judges and other legal issues.
Thirteen members of the High Council of Justice voted for Kadagidze, only a non-judge member of the council, Nazi Janezashvili, voted against.
Janezashvili said that Kadagidze ‘has always been supported’ by a ‘clan of judges who run the Georgian court system behind the stage.’
She also stated that through electing Kadagidze the High Council of Justice has made a ‘step backwards.’
Before the recent constitutional changes the Supreme Court chair automatically took the chairmanship of the High Council of Justice. However, the standard was changed by parliament and the council is able to elect its chair among its members for a four-year-term,” Janezashvili said.
Kadagidze was elected as the head of the Supreme Court earlier this year amid the opposition’s protest and controversies related to the selection process of Supreme Court judges.
The Georgian parliament has elected Nino Kadagidze as the new chair of the Georgian Supreme Court amid the protests of the United National Movement and the European Georgia opposition parties.
The US Embassy said that the candidate selection process in the High Council of Justice “lacked transparency and resulted in a slate of nominees that did not fully represent the best qualified candidates”.
The Georgian parliament has approved 14 of total 19 candidates for lifelong judges of the Georgian Supreme Court amid protests of the opposition and civic groups. Prosecutor General Shalva Tadumadze, his deputy Mamuka Vasadze and Secretary of Georgia’s High Council of Justice Giorgi Mikautadze are among those approved.
Twelve individuals including opposition leaders and members have been detained at parliament earlier today for ‘hooliganism and disobedience to the police’, during a rally opposing a 20-person list of judges nominated for seats on the Georgian Supreme Court. Opposition leaders and members Giorgi Vashadze, Giorgi Tevdoradze, Beso Gazdelian, Guram Chalagashvili, Zurab Kostava, David Kakauridze and Kakhaber Machitidze are among the detainees.
The Georgian parliament must ensure transparency in judicial reform, including the appointment of judges, the ambassadors of the European Union and the United States Carl Hartzell and Kelly Degnan, and Head of the Council of Europe Office in Tbilisi Natalia Voutova say in a letter sent to Georgian Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava.