Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary’s Vision for Judicial Reform
In a statement released on October 9, Coalition for an Independent and Transparent Judiciary addressed the Georgian judiciary challenges and the ways to tackle them. The Coalition stresses: “Despite several waves of reforms carried out over the years, the Georgian judicial system still faces fundamental challenges and is experiencing a significant crisis of legitimacy and trust.”
The statement states that the legislative changes carried out so far “should be considered a superficial attempt at institutional reforms that have failed to overcome the main challenge of the Georgian context – the concentration of power and informal influence in the justice system.”
The Coalition points that the ruling team failed to adhere to the principal goals of democratic transformation of the judiciary, making concessions to influential groups in the judicial system regarding fundamental issues, which led to gradual suppression of dissent in the system and strengthened corporatism. Clan-based governance is often mentioned in the vision as a notable problem, which should be addressed by the will of all parties with the help of designated institutions.
The Coalition proposes three key steps towards addressing the reforms in the Judiciary.
First stage: Assessment of existing problems in the justice system
The Parliamentary/Investigative Commission, through an inclusive and transparent process, should fully and objectively investigate the extent of informal/clan-based governance and political influence in the judicial system, as well as the level of corruption.
Second stage: Strategy and action plan for improving the justice system
After assessing the scale of the existing problem in the system, a strategy and an action plan for the real improvement of the judiciary with the involvement of all interested parties should be developed.
Third stage: Implementation of strategy and action plan
The institutions designated by the strategy and action plan must ensure its implementation. The implementation process should be transparent and inclusive.
The Coalition’s vision also proposes a number of measures to prevent the existing problems of informal governance and increased levels of corruption from worsening in the short to medium term. These include the introduction of a more inclusive decision-making rule (double 2/3) in the High Council of Justice, measures to ensure guarantees for the independence of individual judges, ensuring full and timely accessibility of judicial acts, changing the rule of composition of the Independent Council of the High School of Justice; improving working conditions for judges etc.
Also Read:
- 10/10/2023 – Venice Commission Tells Authorities to Pursue Reform Strategy “without Unjustified Delay” in its Opinion on Organic Law on Common Courts
- 14/09/2023 – US Sanctions Ivanishvili Crony for Channeling Russia’s Influence
- 06/04/2023 – Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary Supports US Sanctions on Judges
- 14/03/2023 – Venice Commission: Proposed Bill “Does Not Provide for Holistic Reform of the Judiciary”
- 29/03/2021 – CSO Coalition: Proposed Judicial Amendments ‘Fragmented’
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