Citizens' trust in judiciary has “increased greatly” - PM

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday claimed surveys confirmed citizens' trust in the domestic judiciary had “increased greatly”, in comments following a meeting with members of the High Council of Justice.

Garibashvili highlighted the recommendation of non-governmental organisations and diplomatic representations in support of appointment of judges in the country’s judiciary for life, and added the fourth wave of reforms the country’s courts were comparable to “exemplary” judiciaries in European Union member states.

One of the main recommendations of non-governmental organisations and embassies was to appoint judges for life, which our Government did. The result of the fourth wave of the reforms is that today the [Georgian] court is among the exemplary [and comparable to those in the] European Union. This was confirmed by surveys conducted a few days ago, [which showed] the trust of citizens towards the court has increased greatly”, the PM said.

The Government head also highlighted the number of cases admitted from Georgia by the European Court of Human Rights during the United National Movement party Government had been at a “record level” of between 4000 to 5000 cases, and contrasted the figure with “only 150” this year. He said the contrast “proves that the trust in the court has absolutely increased and citizens can find justice in the country”.

The judiciary [under UNM] was run by one person - namely the former President Mikheil Saakashvili, and the former Minister of Justice Zurab Adeishvili, who at the same time was the chief prosecutor and instructed the courts”, he pointed out.

“The court at that time was actually a section of the Prosecutor's Office. We ended this reality when the Georgian people rejected that violent regime”, Garibashvili noted. 

[...] [O]n the day the Georgian Dream party came to power, the court also became free and independent. I also remember our conversations with our foreign partners. Their recommendation was that we should take absolutely no action against the judges [appointed during the UNM Government], and we certainly did not do anything - on the contrary, from the day we came to power, we provided as much support as possible to our judges and the judiciary”, he said.

Garibashvili’s comments on the Government keeping judges appointed in the judiciary during UNM years follows the United States Department of State’s  sanctioning of four current and former judges in Georgia for alleged corruption.

Irakli Shengelia, Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze and Valerian Tsertsvadze were sanctioned last week under the US visa restrictions authority, with the decision alleging they had “abused their positions as court chairmen and members of Georgia’s High Council of Justice, undermining the rule of law and the public’s faith in Georgia’s judicial system”.