Judicial Conference Condemns “Vetting”, Elects Two to HCoJ
On March 24, the XXXII Conference of Judges of Georgia, a self-governing body of Georgian common courts, “unanimously supported” the statement made by the Supreme Court of Georgia on March 11, denouncing the initiative to check the integrity of judges through extraordinary “vetting” mechanism.
In its statement on March 11, the Supreme Court argued that the extraordinary “vetting” mechanism “would undermine the independence of the judiciary and the individual judges” as well as “the public trust towards judicial system”, thus “facilitating political control” over the judiciary.
The Conference also elected Levan Tevzade and Vasil Mshvenieradze as members of the High Council of Justice (HCoJ) of Georgia. Nikoloz Marsagishvili was elected the Secretary of the High Council of Justice.
Levan Tevzade was elected to the Supreme Court of Georgia for life tenure in 2021. In 2015-2018 he was a member of the High Council of Justice. He has been working in the judiciary since 2008. Before he worked in various positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia during 2004-2008. He also worked in the Ministry of Justice of Georgia in 2002-2004.
Vasil Mshvenieradze has worked as the Chair of the Civil Cases Panel of the Tbilisi City Court since 2022. Since 2017, he has worked at various leadership positions in the Tbilisi City Court, Tbilisi Court of Appeals and Kutaisi Court of Appeals. In 2017-2021 he was the member of the High Council of Justice. Before he worked as the Chair of the Mtskheta District Court in 2008-2017.
Nikoloz Marsagishvili has been the member of the High Council of Justice since March 2020. The Conference of Judges elected him as the Secretary of the High Council of Justice in November 2020. Since 2019 he has been a judge in the Tbilisi City Court appointed for life tenure. In 2019-2020 he was the Chair of the Tbilisi City Court. He has been working in the judiciary since 2008.
In its 2023 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy, the EU Commission spoke of the need for Georgia to establish a system of extraordinary integrity checks, with the involvement of international experts, for all leading positions in the judiciary, and to establish a system of effective assets declarations. The Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze said he believes introducing such vetting of judges would violate the Constitution of Georgia.
Two Supreme Court judges Nino Bakakuri and Ekaterine Gasitashvili did not agree with the Supreme Court statement, leading to the harsh reactions directed at them from the ruling Georgian Dream, including the Prime Minister.
In a statement issued by the Spokesperson of the European External Action Service (EEAS) on March 22, the European Commission told Georgia that “Georgia needs to establish a system of extraordinary integrity checks” as part of the comprehensive reform of the judiciary and as a part of “fundamentals” – the preconditions for opening the accession negotiations.
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