President Zourabichvili Fears Imposed Sanctions on Judges will Negatively Impact Georgia's Pending EU Candidacy Status
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, April 10, 2023
The President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili responded to the US Department of State's decision imposing sanctions on four Georgian judges for being corrupt and harming Georgia's democracy, and said that she is not happy about it as she fears these sanctions will negatively impact Georgia's pending EU candidacy status and harm the country's image.
In her statement, Zourabichvili said that she fully supports the judicial reforms and acknowledges the negative impact four sanctioned judges had on Georgia's judicial system.
However, she thinks that the country does not deserve this issue becoming a reason for deepening polarization between internal forces and in relations with international partners, therefore she called on the authorities to fully investigate the case and work towards restoration of the country's reputation.
"This decision concerns only four persons and the visa restrictions of these four persons, as clarified by the Ambassador herself, the statement emphasizes the support of Georgia, despite this, the country's image is being somewhat damaged.
Georgia and the Georgian people are well aware of the responsibility of these people in forming a vicious judicial system. We all know and understand what should be done to improve the judicial system.
Our society knows very well what was not done and why it was not done. Therefore, we fully understand, share and support the need for judicial reform, as well as the need to strengthen judicial independence and the need for professional and impartial personnel in the system, the 12 recommendations of the European Commission serve this and nothing else.
I am sorry that the country, with this decision, is included in the list of other sanctioned countries, while Georgia is waiting for the most important decision from its European partners - the granting of candidate status, and I am afraid that the US decision will be perceived as a negative signal in Europe.
Therefore, it is up to us to fix the image of the country, if we do not want to destroy the future of the country because of four people, effective steps are needed - be it a full investigation or a review of the composition of the Supreme Council of Justice, or the timely selection of non-judge members. The more effective steps are taken in terms of judicial reform, which all our loyal partners are watching and waiting for, the faster we will restore our country's reputation and trust in it.
The country really did not deserve this and does not deserve that this issue becomes a reason for deepening polarization. Neither between internal forces nor in relations with international friends.
A friendly country may have mercilessly told us what it had to say, but let's not be silent, let's not get angry, let's not be happy, but let's analyze what happened and why and what needs to be corrected. And let's show the world that we deserve another assessment and we will achieve our goal," said the president.
