Supreme Court chair launches reforms
By Thea Mariamidze
Thursday, May 21
The first female Chair of the Supreme Court Nino Gvenetadze presented a new juridical draft law, which caused controversy between the Supreme Court and the Supreme Council of Justice.
The draft law provides the changes in several directions such as the creation of the independent Inspector Institute, changes in the suspension of authority of judges and the distribution of cases among the judges.
The Head of the Supreme Council of Justice Levan Murusidze thinks that the creation of the Independent Inspector Institute, which will be authorized to start disciplinary charges against the judges, is unnecessary, because the Head of Supreme Council of Justice can perform these duties himself.
Murusidze thinks that bringing an outsider to this position is an attempt of getting rid of such judges which are undesirable for certain people.
In his statement Murusidze explained that in order to give the judge disciplinary charges 10 votes are necessary, which is going to be reduced to 8 votes and the process of voting is going to become transparent, which is incorrect and aims at controlling the independence of judges.
The Head of the Justice Council is sure that the upcoming changes in judiciary will be the step backwards and they leave the impression of instability in the whole system.
He said that his position is not subjective and he is the representative of the majority of judges and his colleges, who share his beliefs.
“We should hold a conference of judges and everyone will see that nearly all are against the changes,” he said.
The initiator of the changes, Nino Gvenetadze, excludes new reforms to have negative impacts on the judicial system.
She stated that her only aim is to improve the juridical standards and eliminate the existing deficiencies.
“I am obliged to take all the necessary changes, which will contribute to strengthening the independence of the judiciary and will bring us closer to European standards,” she stated.
She believes that bringing the independent person as an Inspector underlines the impartiality and transparency within the system.
According to her, the Inspector will not be allowed to start disciplinary charges against a judge without the consent of the Supreme Council of Justice.
She also spoke about the unfair distribution of many unresolved cases among the judges. She said that the new electronic case distribution system will be created, which will regulate this problem and eliminate the shortcomings.
It should be noted that before becoming the Chairperson of Supreme Court, Gvenetadze and Murusidze were subject to controversy, but they both say that currently they have a purely professional approach towards the upcoming reform.
