Supreme Council of Justice elects 4 member Judges
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, May 27
Supreme Council of Justice elected 4 member Judges during the 29th Extraordinary Conference of Judges yesterday. The elected members are Abuseridze Gocha (274 votes), Levan Mikaberidze (283 votes), Badri Shonia (281 votes), Temur Gogokhia (278 votes). All four were elected judges of the High Council of Justice for a four-year term and will replace Dimitri Gvritishvili, Vasil Mshvenieradze, Irakli Shengelia and Irakli Bondarenko, the members of the Council whose term of office expires on June 24.
The conference of judges took place against the background of a protest rally held at the Supreme School of Justice. Protesters were demanding the postponement of the voting as they claim the government intends to 'strengthen the clan'. Opposition MPs, as well as Ambassadors, have urged to halt the election of High Council of Justice members and judges of the Supreme Court before the implementation of large-scale judicial reforms as considered with the EU-mediated agreement signed in April 2021. Opposition MPs have stated that the High Council of Justice, which selects and appoints judges in the country, is currently composed of ‘biased judges’ and lacks public trust.
As the deputy head of Georgia’s Supreme Court Giorgi Mikautadze stated on Wednesday, the moratorium on the election of new members of the High Council of Justice would have ‘caused the collapse’ of the country’s court system. According to him, currently, the High Council of Justice lacks one member, while the terms of nine other members are expiring in the coming months.
The newly-elected members of the council do not agree with the allegations of the protesters that they were elected only because they enjoy the protection of influential groups of judges. According to them, the balloting process was transparent.
