The High Council of Justice of Georgia has started the selection process of the Supreme Court justices. Today, on June 7, the registration of candidate will be launched. After the completion of the registration anonymous voting will be conducted. On this backdrop, it is extremely important that the Parliament of Georgia urgently discusses the legitimacy of the candidacy of a non-judge member of the Council – Zaza Kharebava, as well as his termination of authority.

On May 14, 2019, the Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary issued a statement to the Parliament concerning the legitimacy of the process of Zaza Kharebava’s selection. According to the Coalition, the selection process for Zaza Kharebava violates the rules set by the law, [1] given that his candidacy was nominated by an unauthorized entity. Under the law, a non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity is eligible to nominate a candidate for the membership of the High Council of Justice, if for 2 years prior to the announcement of the competition nominating organization has been providing representation in court lawsuits. The organization nominating Zaza Kharebava does not meet this requirement.

Under the law, one of the grounds for termination of authority in The High Council of Justice of Georgia is the “selection or appointment of a candidate in violation of the rules established in this law.” [2] Although, the violation of the law is evident in both the nomination and the selection process of Zaza Kharebava’s candidacy, the Parliament of Georgia has yet to discuss the matter, which was registered on May 14, 2019.

As mentioned above, The High Council of Justice of Georgia has started the selection process of judicial candidates for the Supreme Court of Georgia. To ensure the legitimacy of the process, we urge the Parliament of Georgia to immediately review the legitimacy of Zaza Kharebava’s selection process and we urge Zaza Kharebava to voluntarily stay away from the discussion process as well as the voting until the final decision is reached.

Signatories:

Article 42 of the Constitution

Transparency International – Georgia

Human Rights and Monitoring Center (EMC)

Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)

Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)

[1] Point 5, Article 47 of the Law of Georgia on Common Courts, as well as Point 3, Article 219 of the Parliament Rules of Procedure (previous edition)

[2] Point 1, sub-point “K” of Article 48 of the Law on Common Courts establishes the grounds for terminating a member’s authority