Anna Dolidze: clan in Court may be defeated only with joint efforts
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, February 5
A non-judge member of the High Council of Justice, an independent body which is responsible for the appointment of judges in Georgia, former deputy Defence Minister Anna Dolidze says that the “clan of biased judges”, which run the Georgian justice system for now, can only be defeated with joint efforts.
Dolidze made the statement after her meeting with the opposition members last week, in the wake of a turmoil related to the judge candidates for the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Dolidze claims that she and another non-judge member of the council Nazi Janezashvili will meet “everyone” who is interested in the existence of a fair court system in Georgia.
Dolidze and Janezashvili openly oppose the judge members of the council, who, as they say, are controlled by the “clan of the judges” who are related to the politically motivated cases under the United National Movement leadership.
The nomination of 10 judges for the Supreme Court of Georgia by the council on 24 December 2018 caused harsh criticism from Dolidze, Janezashvili, the civil sector and even several leading figures of the Georgian Dream ruling party.
As the former head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee Eka Beselia stated on 27 December 2018, she resigned because of the list and accused Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze of lobbing the list.
The accusations were strongly dismissed by Kobakhidze.
Georgian Dream ruling party top figures stated on 26 December 2018 that the discussion around the list of judges for the Supreme Court would be postponed until the spring session and before the launch of the discussions a “clear criteria” would be elaborated regarding the selection of judges.
Dolidze and Janezashvili have already presented a draft in parliament on how the judges should be selected for lifetime appointment in Georgian courts.
The first meeting of the working group which should have discussed the changes related to the selection of judges was actually deranged, as Dolidze and the opposition quit the meeting last month in protest, as those judges attended the meeting who were on the list for the Supreme Court.
The list of judges for the Supreme Court must be voted in parliament.
