Mikheil Chinchaladze Re-elected as Chairman of Tbilisi Court of Appeals
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
The High Council of Justice has re-elected Mikheil Chinchaladze as the Chairman of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals for a five-year term. Council members unanimously supported Chinchaladze's candidacy.
Prior to the session, Ana Dolidze, a former non-judicial member of the High Council of Justice, said that the obstacles to Georgia's European integration were the fault of the existing clan in the court.
Representatives of the civil sector criticized the candidacy of Chinchaladze as the Chairman of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal. Among them is Nazi Janezashvili, a former member of the High Council of Justice. Court Watch, the NGO chaired by her, was studying the process of electing the chairman of the Court of Appeal. Janezashvili announced after the trial that 53 judges of the Court of Appeals supported Chinchaladze's candidacy during the consultations.
The President of the Court of Appeal shall be elected from among the judges of the same Court. He is appointed to the position by the High Council of Justice. Only Mikheil Chinchaladze applied for the post of the Chairman of the Court of Appeals in the High Council of Justice. He has been holding this position since 2017, and his 5-year term expired in May.
NGOs working on the judiciary and the court of justice called on members of the High Council of Justice not to support Chinchaladze's candidacy, calling him a ‘clan member’ in court and claiming that it will be harder to attain the EU candidacy status with ‘Murusidze-Chinchaladze Clan’ ruling the judiciary.
A few days ago, Elene Khoshtaria, the leader of the Droa party, called on Georgia's international partners to sanction judges, following the businessmen. 9 judges nominated by Khoshtaria included Chinchaladze as well.
