Controversy over Georgian judge's emigration to the US
Maia Svianadze has been a judge since 2009, while in 2017 she was appointed to the position for life. Photo from Wisconsin Public Radio.
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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.
Janezashvili wrote on her Facebook page that Svianadze, who still was an official employee of the Tbilisi City Court, took vacation and left for the US and requested dismissal from the High Council of Justice of Georgia from there.
She sent a statement to the High Council of Justice and requested dismissal. She was dismissed as a judge [on April 5] by the decision of the Council of Justice", wrote Janezashvili.
This controversy is exacerbated by ongoing reform of the Georgian court.
Janezashvili has stated that ‘Svianadze’s decision was correct and in line with the current (unfavourable) situation in the court’.
Janezashvili says that the country’s justice system is being run by a ‘clan of judges’ and that ‘no genuine justice reform is possible’ until the ‘top judges’ are present in the system.
The need for justice reform was raised in the recent proposal of the EU-mediator in the talks between Georgian political parties.
However, no agreement has been reached between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition so far.
On the other hand, the High Council of Justice of Georgia has stated that the resignation of the judge was known in advance to the council.
Svianadze wrote a letter to the High Council of Justice on March 26, 2021. At the session held on April 5, 2021, the members of the council supported the ordinance and Svianadze was dismissed from her position. She is currently living in the United States with her child. Her child has been a US citizen for years and works for the New York Police Department. Svianadze's decision to resign as a judge was previously known to the High Council of Justice", reads the statement of the council.
Svianadze told local media outlet Palitranews that her child has been living in the US for 16 years and wanted to reunite with her family.
I did not stay in the US illegally ... I went to live with my child. There was really no other reason, I just moved in with my child because I have a family here, a child and two grandchildren", said Svianadze.
Earlier this morning Svianadze updated her life event on Facebook and wrote that she had started work at Alida Inc in New York as a legal counsel.
Svianadze has been a judge since 2009, while in 2017 she was appointed to the position for life.
The US Department of State has released its 45th report on the observance of human rights in countries around the world in 2020, including Georgia.
Acting Justice Minister Gocha Lortkipanidze, who has made history by becoming the first Georgian judge at the Hague-based International Criminal Court for nine-year tenure, was sworn in today. Being elected ICC judge in December 2020, Lortkipanidze previously represented Eastern Europe in the ICC Trust Fund for Victims.
Justice Minister nominee Gocha Lortkipanidze has made history by becoming the first Georgian judge at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2018 Lortkipanidze became the first Georgian who was unanimously elected to represent Eastern Europe in the Trust Fund for Victims of the ICC.
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.
Georgian judge Maia Svianadze, who has emigrated to the United States, says that her departure was not related to a specific case or political pressure but wanted to be close to her child who has been living in the US for 16 years.
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.