Two Formats to be Created for Selection of ‘Unbiased Judges’
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, January 17
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze claims that two formats will be created to set the criteria for the selection of lifetime judges for Georgian courts.
The statement comes after the large-scale controversies regarding the list of 10 judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia, made by the independent body responsible for the selection of judges-the High Council of Justice on 24 December.
The civil sector, two members of the council and several representatives of the ruling team stated that the list included the judges who delivered unfair verdicts under the United National Movement government.
They called upon the legislative body, which must vote the list to withdraw the list and provide new procedures and clear criteria for selection of judges.
The parliament made a decision on 26 December to postpone discussions around the list until the spring session and provide new procedures before that time.
“The procedure and criteria will be set within two formats – one of them is the working group format and another one is the parliamentary format. We will discuss the issue with interested parties within these two formats.
“Based on this dialogue we will agree on the procedure and criteria, which will not have an alternative and this is the best solution for the issue,” Kobakhidze claimed.
The Georgian Dream member, former head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee Eka Beselia says that Kobakhidze was interested in approving the list and was asking accelerated procedures from her in the committee regarding the list.
Beselia says she quit her post on 27 December because of the list of “biased judges,” which was dismissed by Kobakhidze and the founder of the Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Both said that Beselia’s quitting the post was decided in the summer and claimed that Beselia was speculating with the issue of judges.
Currently, there are 10 judges in the Supreme Court of Georgia instead of 28.
The Georgian Dream authorities provided changes in 2013-2014 which allowed lifetime appointment of judges as ‘the best measure for impartiality’.
However, the civil sector says that the reform has many drawbacks which give chances to judges with controversial past to continue working in the court.
