High Council of Justice selects candidates for Supreme Court despite calls for moratorium
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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.
The EU and the US embassies, as well as the country’s opposition have called for the moratorium in the election of new members both in the HCJ and the Supreme Court until the implementation of April 19 EU-mediated agreement.
The agreement proposed by the European Council President Charles Michel helped Georgian political parties to resolve the several-month political crisis in the country which began after the 2020 parliamentary elections.
Along with election issues, the document obliges the signatories to ensure the conduct of large scale judicial reforms.
The High Council of Justice says that there is a 'severe lack' of judges in the country and there is a serious need to elect new judges. Photo: 1TV.
The nine candidates selected by HCJ for the Supreme Court, Giorgi Gogiashvili, Gocha Abuseridze, Levan Tevzadze, Ketevan Meskhishvili, Giorgi Shavliashvili, Revaz Nadaraia, Bidzina Sturua, Eka Zarnadze and Lasha Kochiashvili must be approved by parliament to take seats.
Opposition MPs from Lelo faction and Girchi have stated that they will not support the election of Supreme Court judges by parliament.
Opposition MP Salome Samadashvili has stated that if parliament approves the judges it will be a violation of the EU-mediated agreement.
???????? Very alarmed by rushed appointment of supreme court judges in #Georgia. As per #April19 Agreement, ambitious judicial reform is crucial & linked to ????????#EU's Micro-Financial Assistance for ????????. Disregarding @VeniceComm is not wise. "Clan" system in judiciary erodes rule of law!
— Viola von Cramon (@ViolavonCramon) June 17, 2021
The approval of the judges will need the support of the majority of MPs in the state legislature.
Currently the ruling party has 90 MPs in parliament, while the opposition is represented by 58 (of total 60) MPs.
At the end of May 2021 four individuals were elected to Georgia’s High Council of Justice amid a rally of civic activists and the calls of the US and the EU ambassadors to pause the process.
Members of the High Council of Justice have stated that non-election of the new members would lead to the collapse of the justice system.
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.
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.
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.
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 Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association says that clan rule of Georgia’s High Council of Justice (HCJ), an independent body which selects and appoints judges around the country, remains a major challenge.
The US Embassy to Georgia has posted the highlighted text of the April 19 EU-mediated agreement between Georgian political parties to counter the position of the ruling Georgian Dream party that the parliament should continue the election of new judges in the Georgian Supreme Court.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has stated that she will not participate in screening of candidates for judges to the country’s Supreme Court in the state legislature.
The Georgian parliament has appointed six judges to the country’s Supreme Court, despite calls from the opposition, NGOs and the international community to suspend the process in compliance with the EU-mediated agreement which put an end to six months of political tension over the country’s October 2020 parliamentary elections. Parliament made the decision at today’s session, which was delayed after opposition activists and NGO representatives entered parliament and occupied the speaker’s seat, demanding the resignation of PM Garibashvili.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says all conditions of the EU-mediated agreement ending months of political standoff in April 2021 have been fulfilled amid the US State Department’s criticism over the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court. The agreement had called for a moratorium on the appointment of judges before the implementation of wide-scale judicial reforms.