Extraordinary Conference scheduled to elect Judicial Council members, NGOs demand suspension of the process

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Friday, May 21

On May 18, Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary called on the Parliament to start working on the reform of the justice system in a timely manner and to ensure that the High Council of Justice is staffed with qualified and credible staff.

“We call on the political parties to start working on this in the parliament as soon as possible, to open the doors for all interested groups, especially those who have been observing this system for years,” said Giorgi Gvilava, a transparency International representative.

The 29th Extraordinary Conference of Judges was scheduled for May 26, at which judges will elect four members of the High Council of Justice as the term of office of 4 judges of the Council Dimitri Gvritishvili, Irakli Bondarenko, Irakli Shengelia and Vasil Mshvenieradze expires.

The suspension of the election of judges is supported by non-governmental organizations working on the issue of law, as well as politicians and non-judicial member of the Council of Justice Nazi Janezashvili who advocates a temporary halt to the process and the need for large-scale judicial reform. According to her, the majority of the council members should be non-judicial members and judges should be in the minority. “They used the majority to turn the court system into Chinchaladze Ltd.,” said Janezashvili.

On May 20, non-governmental organizations demanded a temporary halt to the process and called on parliament to start reforming the judiciary as soon as possible. According to them, the inclusion of the issue in Charles Michel's document indicates that the Georgian justice system is problematic. They reminded the public that one of the key issues of the agreement signed between the government and the opposition on April 19 is the ambitious reform of the judiciary, which includes the reform of the High Council of Justice. They emphasized that although 9 of the 15 members of the Council (4 judges and 5 non-judges) are to be re-elected during the 2021 spring session, the Parliament has not yet begun work on changing the composition of the Council.

The organizations also issued a joint statement on the issue, writing that in order to improve the judiciary and the public's trust in it, it is vital to staff the council in a way that will reduce the use of this institution as an instrument of internal and external influence.

The signatory organizations Georgian Democratic Initiative, Partnership for Human Rights, Rights Georgia, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Open Society Georgia Foundation, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Transparency International - Georgia, Center for Social Justice, European Foundation and Tamar Laliashvili, member of the Independent Lawyers Group recommend the following:

“Judges of the common courts shall refrain from electing judges to the High Council of Justice until the composition of the Council has been changed in such a way as to ensure that the process of electing members of the High Council of Justice takes place in a transparent and fair environment;

The Parliament shall promptly adopt an amendment to the Organic Law of Georgia on Common Courts and temporarily suspend the election of members of the High Council of Justice by a legislative act until the reservation of the April 19, 2021, agreement stipulates non-transparent and fair environment;

Create a working format in a timely manner, to assess the already implemented waves of justice reform and work on future fundamental reform and ensure the proper involvement of all stakeholders.”