Ex-Head of Tbilisi Court Offers President His Candidacy for Supreme Court Head
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, August 30
The former head of the Tbilisi City Court Mamuka Akhvlediani, who was fired from the post in 2017 because of “poor management” has offered President Giorgi Margvelashvili to nominate him for the vacant post of the Supreme Court chairperson after the sudden resignation of Nino Gvenetadze early this month.
Akhvlediani, who was believed to be in a bad relationship with Gvenetadze, has already sent the president his conception over the court management.
The offer came shortly after the president’s unexpected decision that he would not name candidates for the Supreme Court head as no consensus was reached with the ruling party, which holds the majority in parliament.
A candidate for the Supreme Court head must be approved by parliament, and he/she should take the post for ten years.
Gvenetadze resigned in three years because of poor health, as she wrote.
Akhvlediani, who was dismissed by the High Council of Justice on February 22, 2017, claimed that the dismissal by the body responsible for fair judiciary was unjust and partial.
He said that his dismissal was connected with the statements, in which he criticized the High Council of Justice and its activities. He explained that he was unwell and asked the High Council to give him time for recovery. However, he said that they did not give him any time to recuperate.
“I was not allowed to state my position. I tried to reach nearly every member of the Council, and nobody answered. They did not wait even for five hours and made a decision to dismiss me. It is direct persecution,” said Akhvlediani.
Akhvlediani believed that then head of the High Council, Nino Gvenetadze (and every other member), should have resigned.
“I made the court system more transparent, and the problems that I helped solve will re-emerge after my dismissal,” stated Akhvlediani at a meeting with various Non-Governmental Organizations on February 23.
Out of the 12 members of the High Council of Justice, 11 voted for Akhvlediani’s dismissal. The only member of the Council who voted against his dismissal was Vakhtang Mchedlishvili, appointed by President Giorgi Margvelashvili.
The official reason for Akhvlediani’s dismissal was said to be poor management.
An unofficial reason for the dismissal was the leak of conversation between Akhvlediani and director of the opposition-minded Rustavi 2 TV channel Nika Gvaramia, in which Akhvlediani was speaking negatively about Gvenetadze.
Gvaramia said that he recorded the conversation but said that he had no idea how the recording went viral.
