The President talks about the pressing issues in the Country

The President of Georgia held a press meeting due to a high demand from the community to cover all the relevant events currently taking place in Georgia. Salome Zurabishvili addressed the topics of Supreme Court Judges, The escalation of events in Pankisi Gorge, as well as the recent suicide of a 15-year-old that has caused division of opinions in public.

Zurabishvili has been very present in the news of Georgia, covering a wide variety of issues. In the past few days, she has called for a change in one of the “CBS” tv shows where “South Ossetia” is presented as the province of Russia and visited David Gareji Monasteries, talked with the Georgian Border Patrol.

During the press-conference, Madame Zurabishvili touched on the ongoing topic of The Venice Committee Recommendations regarding the Selections of Judges for the Supreme Court. Madame President stressed that in her opinion, considering only the suggestion about the canceling the examination of judges failed to defuse the tensions within the parliament. This amendment also to strengthen the trust in the Court in the current situation, neither did it match up to the common European principles. “Based on these assessments, we got involved in the second hearing process and held consultations with the Chairman of the Parliament.

The results of these consultations have been achieved: 3 recommendations have been provided.

… The only recommendation not to be taken into consideration from these 5 main provisions relates to the rule of secret voting for the judge”

Zurabishvili brought up the fact that this recommendation was contradictory to the Venice Committee Recommendation of 2014, where the Secret voting was first proposed by the commission.

Zurabishvili positively assessed consultative relations with the Chairman of the Parliament even though the Chairman, Mr. Kobakhdize has been criticized by the opponents for not being transparent enough regarding the High Council of Justice.

Zurabishvili also addressed the heated topic of Pankisi Gorge. Madame President condemned any violence against the police and underlined the importance of this for the countries with occupied regions, the countries for which the borders and stability are vitally important. The President positively assessed the efforts of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Giorgi Gakharia for getting the situation under control. But the general public still condemns the presence of special forces in the middle of the village and some even call for the termination of the construction immediately. The President of Georgia called for the more comprehensive and detailed assessment of the possible threats to the public as well as the environment. While the government officials claim that they have been holding a comprehensive meeting with the locals and talking them through the process, some residents of Pankisi Gorge state that they have been purposefully excluded from these discussions for having a different opinion. It isn’t confirmed yet who contributed to the escalation of the confrontation but the general consensus is that the talks with the community need to be continued and construction possibly even terminated if the majority of the population ends up opposing the project.

At the end of her speech Madame president also touched on the news that has shaken the general public of Georgia. The Suicide of a 15-year-old boy who allegedly killed himself because of hunger.

“As the President of this country, I know that the connection between the child, hunger, and suicide is a tragedy and a shame for any country.”- said Zurabishvili.

The event has divided the public since the video shared on social media depicts the parent of the 15-year-old accusing the news channel “Rustavi 2” journalist of misinformation and that the reason for the young boy’s suicide was not hunger. While some sided with the mourning parent others immediately found political reasoning behind this and accused the parents of getting bribed by the government. Zurabishvili also mentioned this in her speech.

”I think it’s a shame to use a tragedy like this for political gains” said Zurabishvili in during her press conference. These types of conferences can help improve the communication between the president and the general public and can be seen as a move in the right direction.