Five candidates for European Court of Human Rights revealed
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, March 1
A Governmental commission has selected its five final candidates, one of whom will represent Georgia in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in the international, Strasburg-based court that monitors human right issues in the 47 Council of Europe (CoE) member states.
Forty-seven people initially applied for the position, out of which the specially-established Commission selected only five with the best qualifications.
The five nominees were: the current Deputy Minister of Justice Aleksandre Baramidze; Georgia’s former Chief Prosecutor Giorgi Badashvili; the incumbent deputy Minister of Defence Anna Dolidze; a member of Georgia’s High Council of Justice Eva Gotsiridze; and Human Rights’ expert Nana Mchedlidze.
The Government must now select three out of the five and send the nominations to the CoE that will name its sole pick from Georgia in autumn 2016, as Georgia’s current representative Nona Tsotsoria’s nine-year term in ECtHR expires at that time.
The Governmental Commission was headed by Minister of Justice of Georgia Thea Tsulukiani and was composed of deputy Foreign Minister Khatuna Totladze, Government’s Parliamentary Secretary Shalva Tadumadze, the head of Parliament’s Human Rights Commission Eka Beselia, the Deputy Head of the Supreme Court of Georgia Mzia Todua, Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili, representative of the Bar Association of Georgia Zaza Khatiashvili, Dean of the faculty of law of the Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University Irakli Burduli, and representative of the Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary Ana Natsvlishvili.
The Commission members stated they were happy with the final candidates, as they had shown themselves to be the best possible choices during the interview stage.
They also stressed that the process was very transparent.
ECtHR is an international court in Strasburg, France, set up in 1959. It rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1998 it has sat as a full-time court, and individuals can apply to it directly.
