Lelo opposition party submits bill to delay election of new judges
Lelo MP Ana Natsvlishvili says that judges should be appointed only after the implementation of the EU-mediated agreement which includes the conduct of a large-scale judiciary reform. Photo: Ana Natsvlishvili’s Facebook page.
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The Lelo opposition party has submitted a bill requesting the state legislature declare a moratorium on the election of new judges for the country’s Supreme Court and new members in the High Council of Justice before the implementation of the EU-mediated agreement.
The document which was signed by the majority of Georgian political parties back in April proposes large-scale electoral and judicial reforms.
Lelo MP Ana Natsvlishvili has stated that the High Council of Justice, the body which appoints judges thorough the country and selects judges for the Supreme Court, has plans to appoint several judges in the coming days.
Natsvlishvili says that the current judicial system, including the High Council of Justice, is run ‘by a clan of judges’, adding that the implementation of the EU-mediated agreement ‘will create serious discomfort for the clan.’
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell has stated earlier today that ‘it is likely Georgian political parties have built a large consensus on the election bill, in line with the EU-mediated agreement signed by the majority of the parties back in April.'
The European Georgia opposition party has made a final decision earlier today and stated that the party will not enter the state legislature, while three of its five mandates have already been taken up.
The Georgian High Council of Justice has nominated Nino Kadagidze as a candidate for the head of Georgian Supreme Court, while the opposition expected former Chief Prosecutor Shalva Tadumadze in the role.
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.
Opposition MPs from Lelo, Strategy Agmashenebli, Khatuna Samnidze from Republican Party, independent MP David Bakradzea and MP Zurab Japaridze from Girchi-More Freedom have demanded the postponement of elections for four new members of Georgia’s High Council of Justice.
EU and US ambassadors to Georgia say that the election of judges to Georgia’s Supreme Court and members of the High Council of Justice should take place only after major justice reforms have been carried out in line with the recent EU-mediated agreement signed by the majority of Georgian political parties back in April 2021.
Four individuals have been elected to Georgia’s High Council of Justice earlier today amid a rally of civic activists and the calls of the US and the EU ambassadors to pause the process.
Deputy head of EU’s European External Action Service (EEAS) Luke Pierre Devin has disapproved of the recent election of four new members in the Georgian High Council of Justice, the body which selects and appoints judges in the country.
The Georgian High Council of Justice (HCJ), an independent body which selects and appoints judges around the country, has selected nine candidates for judge in the Supreme Court despite the calls of foreign diplomats and the opposition to pause the process.