Non-Judge Members of High Council of Justice Address Judges
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, January 25
Nazi Janezashvili and Ana Dolidze, non-judge members of the High Council of Justice (HCOJ), the supreme body responsible for selecting judges, have sent a letter to 274 judges.
The letter reads that it is impossible to have an independent judiciary in the country if all the judges are not free and impartial.
“Our goal is to eradicate influences inside of the judiciary, demonstrate and promote decent and professionally strong judges,” they said, adding that everything depends on the judges.
Janezashvili and Dolidze also mentioned the 25th Extraordinary Conference of Judges scheduled for January 26, which will discuss the existing developments in the judiciary, including the appointment of lifetime judges.
“Your choice is decisive at this crossroads. Steps taken by you to support a fair and independent court, in any form, will significantly strengthen this aspiration,” the non-judge members addressed the judges.
The letter reads that many judges might be under pressure, internal censorship and self-censorship but they should act according to the state interest.
“We would like to inform you that we will do our best to protect the rights of those judges for whom individual independence is more important than corporate interests or loyalty towards the narrow group,” the non-judge members stated.
Nazi Janezashvili and Ana Dolidze are the ones who criticized the controversial list of 10 Supreme Court judges, selected by the HCOJ on December 24.
They claimed the submitted judges were “linked with politically motivated cases and biased judiciary” and called on the parliament not to support it.
They also offered the lawmakers the principles for selection of the Supreme Court lifetime judges.
The five basic principles are:
1. Set up a consulting group
2. Announce the competition for the selection of the Supreme Court
3. Avoid conflict of interests
4. Hold open interviews
5. Reach consensus through decision-making process
10 candidate judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia also released a statement after the acute criticism from the opposition, NGOs and the Public Defender.
The judges said that some “unethical and insulting” statements were made towards the nominated candidates and these statements “artificially turned into the unprecedented pressure campaign” against judicial power, where direct appeals were made regarding the dismissal of the Supreme Council of Justice and expel of the judges, including ones into the presented list.
They called on the parliament not to consider their candidacies, adding if some additional criteria for the selection of judges are set up, they will not take part in the process.
