Parliament’s Legal Issues Committee supports all three candidates for Supreme Court judges

The Committee on Legal Issues of the Georgian Parliament on Thursday supported all three candidates nominated by the High Council of Justice as Supreme Court judges.

The Parliament said Gizo Ubilava, Gocha Jeiranashvili and Badri Shonia would be voted for without discussion at a plenary session, after more than four hours of hearing at a Committee meeting.

Anri Okhanashvili, the Committee Chair, said one existing vacant judge position would be filled by the candidate elected in the alphabetic order, with the remaining candidates taking seats once they become vacant in September or October.

At the hearing, the candidates discussed their views on challenges in the judicial system, naming disinformation as one of the main problems. The domestic opposition did not attend the hearing.

Ubilava previously worked as an assistant to judge's before a spell at the Prosecutor's Office. He returned to the judiciary system in 2020.

Shonia has worked in the judicial system since 2011 and was elected by a panel of judges a member of the Supreme Council of Justice in 2021. He has worked as a judge of the Administrative Affairs Board of the Tbilisi City Court since 2022 and as the Chairman of the same Board.

Jeiranashvili worked in the criminal police as a senior inspector and investigator, while since 2009 he has served as a judge, including at the Tbilisi Court of Appeals` Civil Affairs Chamber since 2021.