Parliament Elects Two Non-Judge Members of HCoJ

On October 17, the Parliament of Georgia elected two non-judge members of the High Council of Justice (HCoJ)- Levan Nemsadze and Goga Kikilashvili.

Goga Kikilashvili, guest lecturer at the International Black Sea University and researcher, was nominated by the International Black Sea University. Levan Nemsadze, a specialist in the field of law, was nominated by the NGO Civil Development Society and NGO Free Development Protection Association.

To be elected as a non-judge member of the HCoJ, the candidates needed the support of 90 MPs, which meant they needed one vote from the opposition.

The parliamentary majority has a total of 85 votes (Prior to the vote the Parliament supported the recognition of Georgian Dream party member Giorgi Sosiashvili‘s MP mandate). The Georgian Dream allied party “European Socialists” led by Fridon Injia, provided the additional four votes. It is not known who from the opposition flank supported the non-judge candidates.

The vote on Levan Nemsadze’s candidacy took place twice. The first time only 89 votes were registered, which was challenged by the leader of the Georgian Dream faction, Mamuka Mdinaradze, who said that one of the buttons didn’t work. In the second round of voting, Nemsadze received the required 90 votes.

Goga Kikilashvili is the son of Constitutional Court judge Khvicha Kikilashvili, who was one of the six judges who supported the Court’s ruling that Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili’s visits to European capitals were unconstitutional. The founder of the NGO “Georgian Court Watch”, Nazi Janezashvili shared this information on social media, stating: “There is no need to comment, but after the decision of the Constitutional Court, do you understand how quickly the son of the judge in the President’s impeachment case was awarded?”.

Now that all five vacancies on the HCoJ have been filled, the quota of non-judicial members has been met. In May this year, Parliament elected elected three non-judge of the HCoJ by anonymous vote – Tristan Benashvili (93 votes), Giorgi Gzobava (91 votes) and Zurab Guraspashvili (93 votes). Another non-judicial member, Tamar Gvamichava, was appointed by the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili.

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