Georgia CSOs: Acting Supreme Court Chair Violates Law

The Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary, uniting 40 civil society organizations, released a statement on December 9, saying that Mzia Todua, acting chair of the Supreme Court, is violating the law. The Coalition claims that Todua is dragging out the process of nominating a new judge to replace former judge of the Constitutional Court, Maia Kopaleishvili.

According to the statement, “a new judge should be appointed no earlier than one month and no later than 10 days prior to expiration of a Constitutional Court member’s tenure.” Maia Kopaleishvili, whose tenure expired on December 5, is one of those three judges of the nine-member Constitutional Court, who were appointed through the Supreme Court’s quota.

“The entire responsibility for this [violation of the law] lies on Acting Chair of the Supreme Court, Mzia Todua. It is, in the first place, her obligation to nominate a new judicial candidate to the Supreme Court’s Plenum,” the Coalition said.

The Coalition called on Mzia Todua and the Plenum to appoint a person who will replace Maia Kopaleishvili in the Constitutional Court in the shortest possible time.

It also noted that “two thirds of attending members are needed to elect a candidate as a judge [at the Supreme Court Plenum]. It is known to the public that number of judges in higher instance courts has been critically reduced.  But no minimum number of judges is determined for Plenum’s decision to be valid. Thus, this factor cannot be considered an adequate reason for the non-fulfillment of obligations by the Acting Chair of the Supreme Court and the Plenum.”

The Coalition claims that delayed nomination of a judicial candidate represents an additional challenge for constitutional justice. “The tenure of a Constitutional Court judge should be terminated upon expiration of a 10-year tenure and it cannot be continued, including for bringing the ongoing cases to the end. Taking this into consideration, delayed replacement of a judge is an additional challenge to constitutional justice,” the statement reads.

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