Ruling party head: UNM “cannot” create Parliamentary inquiry on judiciary
The decision on sanctions alleged the former and current judges 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”. Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said the question of the opposition United National Movement party forming a Parliamentary investigative commission into the domestic judiciary following the United States Government’s sanctioning of Georgian judges could not be discussed “in any case”.
Kobakhidze’s comments came after the ruling party refused to register for the vote on forming the commission, called by the domestic opposition in the wake of the State Department’s sanctioning of Irakli Shengelia, Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze and Valerian Tsertsvadze under the visa restrictions authority earlier this month.
The decision on sanctions alleged the former and current judges 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”.
In his response, the GD Chair dismissed the idea of UNM acting as the initiator for the commission, saying “[t]hese particular people cannot adjust to the fact that they have lost control over the judicial system [since the 2012 change of government]”.
Of course, no one in Georgia will allow the control of UNM over the court to be restored - even in a minimal dose. We are responsible for [preventing] this. We are responsible for protecting the independence of the court, protecting the interests of Georgian citizens, and we will act according to these interests until the end”, the party official said.
Kobakhidze claimed the Parliamentary majority had acted “in support of the independence of the court and all conscientious Georgian judges” by refusing to register for the vote on the creation of the commission.
In Georgia, UNM cannot create a commission regarding judicial issues. UNM is a bloody, criminal political party that created a bloody judicial system. This system cost the health and lives of many people for nine years, therefore we cannot give this criminal political power the opportunity to create an investigative commission on judicial issues”, he concluded.