Ivanishvili Says MP Beselia Went against GD Team Principles
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, January 11
Bidzina Ivanishvili, Founder and Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, says GD member Eka Beselia, who stepped down from her position as chairperson of the Parliament's Legislative Affairs Committee due to "the hasty and unjustified” process of appointing Supreme Court judges for life, went against the team.
Ivanishvili released a statement, saying the decision on the resignation of Eka Beselia was made in the summer and it was related to the difficulties emerged in the ruling team in 2017, and not to the controversial list of Supreme Court lifetime judges, submitted by the High Council of Justice (HCOJ) in late December to the parliament for approval.
“The decisions made by Beselia after resignation were even more incomprehensible. By not submitting an application to the Parliamentary Bureau and by electing Gedevan Popkhadze as First Deputy of the Chairman of Committee, she grossly violated the Rules of Parliament and went against the principle of the team and teamwork,” he added.
According to the GD Chair, taking into consideration such kind of attitude of Beselia towards the team, the issue of electing her as Deputy Chairwoman of Parliament was removed from the agenda.
“I urge people who try to show themselves as the only party interested in this issue to wait for the end of the review process and refrain from making statements that damage the interests of the team, as well as the healthy process of selection of judges,” he stressed.
As for the list of the judges, Ivanishvili noted the majority made a reasonable decision when it left more time for reviewing the judicial candidates and postponed the discussions until the spring session.
“We respect different opinions in the team and we think that reasonable decisions can only be based on free discussion. It is welcome that the decision made by the ruling team was preceded by a statement of the High Council of Justice that they would not oppose the postponement of the selection of judges till the spring session, considering the importance of the issue,” he said.
Beselia replied to the statements made by Ivanishvili. She stressed she will speak about the issue on Monday and “make everything clear.”
“We cannot agree in Georgia that we need proper standards and criteria. As for the statement spread on behalf of the chairman of the party, I will talk about it on Monday,” she stated.
The High Council of Justice, a body responsible for the appointment of judges, nominated the list of 10 judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia without previous consultations on 24 December.
The list was criticized by NGOs, two non-judge members of the council and Vice Parliament Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili from the ruling party, stating that the list included several judges who were linked with politically motivated cases and biased judiciary.
The NGOs have asked parliament to withdraw the list and refine the procedures for selection of judges.
The majority said that accelerated discussions of the issue are not on the agenda, adding the parliament will discuss the issue at the spring session.
