36 new judges appointed to appellate, district courts in Georgia
Newly appointed judges who have more than three years of experience in the court system are appointed for life, while the rest are appointed for a probationary period of three years. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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The High Council of Justice has appointed 36 judges to appellate and district courts in Georgia.
Newly appointed judges who have more than three years of experience in the court system are appointed for life, while the rest are appointed for a probationary period of three years.
Seventeen judges were appointed to the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, three to the Kutaisi Court of Appeals, four to Gori District Court, three to Bolnisi District Court, three to Mtskheta District Court, two to Telavi District Court, one to Zugdidi District Court, one to Ozurgeti District Court, one to Rustavi District Court and one to Khashuri District Court.
The High Council of Justice announced vacancies for candidates for judges for 99 vacant positions in the appellate and district (city) courts. 68 individuals applied for the vacancy, 65 of them passed to the voting stage and finally 36 were selected.
A non-judge member of the council, Nazi Janezashvili, said that the court door is not open to professionals, which is the main problem of the system. She said that several 'good judges' were appointed but they accounted for 'a very small number in the 300-person system'.
Janezashvili said that there was low competition and the interest of professionals from the legal circle was very low.
She also mentioned that 'clan decisions emerged during the voting, which means that as before, it was now clear that the members of the council had agreed in advance on the candidates'.
A judge-member of the council, Dimitri Gvritishvili, responded to Janezashvili and said that she had offended all 36 'decent judges' when equating their appointment to the 'clan decisions'.
"The reality is quite different and simple: the court is open to all conscientious and qualified staff. If someone is less interested in participating in the announced vacancy, it is probably because they do not have the hope of meeting the criteria set by law, or it is not worth it to go to the courts from the private sector, because the responsibility is immeasurable", he said.
The report reads that the final plenary vote on the judicial appointments took place amidst a political crisis, a boycott by the opposition, and widespread calls for an adjournment.
The European Union has issued a statement on the recent lifetime appointment of 14 Supreme Court judges in Georgia. New EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano released a statement yesterday.
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.
Ten judges who have been nominated by the High Council of Justice for the Supreme Court of Georgia have triggered controversies and criticism in the public and civil sector, as several of the judges “are affiliated with the United National Movement government and biased judiciary”, several members of the HCJ and NGOs say.
Georgian judge Maia Svianadze has emigrated to the United States after finding a job in New York and deciding to stay in the US. Svianadze’s actions have provoked controversy in Georgia; while a non-judge member of the High Council of Justice of Georgia, Nazi Janezashvili, claims that Svianadze left for the US without warning, the council states that they knew in advance that Svianadze was going to resign and stay in the US.