Gov't of Georgia Withdraws Constitutional Lawsuits Against President Zourabichvili
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
Proceedings on the lawsuits filed by the Government of Georgia against the President Salome Zourabichvili in the Constitutional Court were stopped. According to the court's statement, the government will no longer sue the President in the Constitutional Court.
On January 11, the claimant's [Georgian government's] statement on the rejection of the claim was registered in the Constitutional Court of Georgia.
The Georgian government had a dispute over two constitutional issues: The constitutionality of the inaction of the President of Georgia regarding the appointment of the head of the diplomatic representation of Georgia; and the constitutionality of the inaction of the President of Georgia regarding the issue of appointment and dismissal of Georgian ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions.
The Government of Georgia applied to the Constitutional Court on June 10, 2022 - the Plenum of the Constitutional Court accepted the lawsuit for consideration on June 24. The government demanded an explanation regarding the appointment and dismissal of Georgian ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions, claiming that in the past one year, the president repeatedly left without response the candidates for ambassadors nominated by the government.
With the second lawsuit, the government applied to the Constitutional Court on August 16 - the government claimed that by refusing to appoint Davit Bakradze as ambassador, that is, by rejecting the submission of the Georgian government, President Zourabichvili directly invaded the exclusive constitutional authority of the Georgian government to implement the country's foreign policy. According to the government's position, "it is clear from the inaction of the President of Georgia that the President of Georgia is acting not for legal reasons, but for political reasons, which the Constitution of Georgia does not grant her."
As the court explained, as a result of the rejection of the claim, the case in the Constitutional Court is settled. Based on this, the Constitutional Court stopped considering the cases.
