Georgian FM Darchiashvili to the US Secretary of State Blinken: decision to sanction judges “completely incomprehensible and unacceptable”

In a letter sent today to the US Secretary of State, the Georgian Foreign Minister Darchiashvili says that the US State Department’s decision to sanction the judge “which was made public without presenting any evidence, is completely incomprehensible and unacceptable.” Darchiashvili expresses hope that the State Department will provide relevant evidence or reconsider its decision saying that otherwise “the state of Georgia and the Georgian people perceive this as pressure on the independent court of the sovereign state and gross interference in its activities, which will damage the long-standing friendly relations between Georgia and the US.”

In his letter, the Georgian Foreign Minister describes the “difficult legacy” in the judicial system that Georgian Dream inherited from the previous government when it came to power in 2012, noting that the creators of this legacy, former President Mikheil Saakashvili and former Justice Minister Zurab Adeishvili, “have not been sanctioned by any country”.

He also notes that the sharp decrease in the number of appeals to the Strasbourg Court, as well as other statistical data, is clear evidence that the systemic problems in the judicial system were eliminated after 2012, when GD came to power. Darchiashvil claims that Georgian citizens ‘can effectively protect their rights’ and that ‘the judicial system has become effective’.

He also claims that the government has repeatedly called on critics of Georgia’s current judicial system to present specific court cases that they claim have been unfairly decided. He writes that “critics have so far failed to present any such case” and cites the case of the Rustavi2 television channel as an example of the “active attempt to damage the reputation of the court” by representatives of opposition parties, non-governmental organizations, opposition-owned media outlets, the former president, the former public defender, as well as individual members of the diplomatic corps.

Also Read:

• 05/04/2023 – BREAKING: US Department of State Sanctions Four Georgian Judges for “Significant” Corruption

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