Judges Quit Supreme Court Amid Alleged Pressure from Authorities

News broke on December 6 that at least five judges on the Georgian Supreme Court filed their resignation.

The news triggered a new wave of criticism towards the authorities over alleged cases of pressure on judges.

According to an amendment to the law on Supreme Court of Georgia passed by the Parliament and signed by President Mikheil Saakashvili on June 23, 2005, those judges on the Supreme Court who resign before December 31, 2005 will receive a pension equal to their current salary.

Opponents and some judges say that this amendment now serves as a tool to pressure those judges who refuse to yield to the authorities? pressure.

?These judges are threatened that if they do not resign now they will be deprived of any kind of social security, including pensions,? Merab Turava, a judge on the Supreme Court, said.

Merab Turava is among those four judges who publicly spoke out against the pressure being exerted on judges by, as they said, Chairman of the Supreme Court Kote Kublashvili and Chairman of the Justice Council Valery Tsertsvadze. Both Kublashvili and Tsertsvadze denied these allegations.

Currently, the Judicial Discipline Commission is considering cases against Merab Turava and 17 other judges who are suspected of misconduct. But opponents say that this process in the Judicial Discipline Commission is just another tool to pressure the judges.

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