Parliament Approves Two New Members of Justice Council

The Parliament approved on March 17 two lawmakers from the ruling National Movement party Nino Kalandadze and Irina Kurdadze as new members of the Justice Council, which oversees judicial system’s performance.

MP Kalandadze is deputy chairperson of the parliamentary committee for legal issues and MP Kurdadze is head of the Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze’s administration.

The opposition parliamentarians were against of MP Kalandadze’s appointment and instead were supporting MP Kakha Kukava of the opposition Conservative Party, but he could receive only 36 votes.

The opposition lawmakers criticized MP Kalandadze for, as they put it, lack of experience and in jurisprudence education.

MP Kalandadze, who was a member of the Judicial Discipline Commission considering the case against so called “rebel judges,” who claimed that Kalandadze had no right to be the member of this commission as she had false university diploma.

“Despite a lot of gossips around me, I am grateful to my colleagues that they expressed support to me and did not cast doubts over my qualification,” MP Kalandadze said.