On July 12, three major judiciary watchdogs, the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI), the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), and the Georgian Court Watch, said in a joint statement that the High Council of Justice (HCoJ) is hindering them from monitoring its sessions, which has been a regular practice for years. The watchdogs say the way this is done contradicts the law and call on HCoJ to reverse the practice.
The watchdogs say that the HCoJ sessions are regularly scheduled but often postponed, without prior notification of the monitors. The schedule is not made public as provided for by the law. The watchdogs claim that on July 8 and July 11, the monitors went to attend the scheduled sessions but, after hours of waiting, were deceived that the session was postponed. By calling the Council hotline, they found out that the session was, in fact, held.
The watchdogs also say that the HCoJ fails to disclose public information “fully and in a timely manner” and does not upload audio recordings of its sessions or publish its decisions on its website. Moreover, the HCoJ does not respond in writing to requests for public information, which “hinders the process of appeals.”
The statement mentions “humiliating” waiting conditions for monitors. It also says the staff is trying to provoke the waiting monitors to justify the denial of attendance.
The watchdogs stress that by closing its doors for NGOs, the HCoJ “refuses to comply with the minimum standard of transparency and returns to the situation that existed before 2013 when the meetings of the Council were held without public scrutiny.”
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