All candidates approved
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, October 2
The Committee on the Election of Judges at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has approved all three judicial candidates nominated by Georgia.
The solution came after the country sent its nominations to the Strasbourg-based court for the third time amid criticism from the opposition and NGOs that the judges’ selection process in Georgia was not fair and transparent.
The opponents forecasted that the latest nominations could also be rejected by the court which would be a “big shame” for the country’s image.
The Committee on the Election of Judges has recommended the Parliamentary Assembly to put the election of a judge from Georgia to voting at the session of October 2017.
"An interview with all three candidates was held at the session,” the Committee announced.
EkaBeselia, the Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, which is the main member of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights, participated in the committee session.
The Government of Georgia selected Constitutional and the Court of Appeals’ judges for the vacant positions for the only seat for Georgia in the European Court in early September.
The solution came after the ECtHR, for various reasons, twice rejected Georgian candidates, and a special governmental commission had to announce a contest for the third time.
Georgia was tasked with sending three candidates to the European Court, out of whom the court selects only one for nine years.
Of the recently-sent three nominees, the Court earlier accepted only one, the country’s current Ambassador to Germany Lado Chanturua, and so Georgia was obligated to send two other nominations.
A special governmental commission under the Ministry of Justice selected four nominees and sent their choices to the government of Georgia to select two.
The government named a judge of the Constitutional Court and deputy head of the Court, Lali Papiashvili, and a judge of the Court of Appeals and former judge of the Constitutional Court, Otar Sichinava as its choices.
Chanturia, Papiashvili and Sichinava have now been approved by the court and one of them will represent Georgia in the court after voting.
