The process of selection of judges of the Supreme Court started on December 24, 2018, and lasted for almost a year. The authorities’ support for influential judges in the judiciary and the formal process of selection ultimately led the justice system to a grave outcome: on December 12, 2019, the Supreme Court was staffed with 14 judges most of whose integrity and professionalism raise a lot of substantiated questions.

The final outcome has shown that the goal of the authorities had not been to the appointment of conscientious and qualified judges to the Supreme Court. The authorities had failed to ensure the adoption of legislation that would be in line with international practice, which made it easier for the parliamentary majority to ensure the achievement of a pre-determined result by means of the selection process and the Supreme Court was staffed with candidates lobbied for by the authorities in advance rather than with highly-qualified candidates who had taken part in the competition. Due to all this, both local NGOs and international organizations gave the process a critical assessment.

In this document, Transparency International Georgia and Georgian Democracy Initiative are presenting a full chronology of events related to the selection of judges.