Justice Minister Advises President to Evaluate His Decision on Ex-Head of Supreme Court
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, August 13
Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani has advised current President Giorgi Margvelashvili to evaluate his decision on the already former head of the Supreme Court Nino Gvenetadze, who resigned about two weeks ago.
Tsulukiani says that the president should make the assessments before he decides on who to nominate for the vacant post.
“Public should know how Margvelashvili evaluates his previous decision on Nino Gvenetadze. We should know whether he saw the mistake or not in the decision [of nominating Gvenetadze]. Only after the assessment, Margvelashvili should name Gvenetadze’s possible replacement,” Tsulukiani said.
Tsulukiani says she knows that Gvenetadze “was facing challenges” and it would be welcomed if the president also spoke about the challenges in the Supreme Court.
President’s Parliamentary Secretary Anna Natsvlishvili says that with the statement Tsulukiani is trying to hinder the candidates’ selection process in the role.
“The comment made by the Minister of Justice was aimed at shifting attention from important processes to insignificant topics and to impede an inclusive, broad and transparent process that we started to select a new Chairperson of the Supreme Court.
“We will not be responding to her despite her great desire that we do so. We now have a national objective, and all our time, energy and resources will be directed to this important process. We expect that all other State agencies will realize their responsibility and act in the State’s interests", Natsvlishvili said.
Gvenetadze, 54, who was selected for the role by President Margvelashvili and approved by parliament in 2015, said in a special statement that her treatment required a several-month stay abroad and announced her resignation on August 2.
She should have taken the post for ten years.
The opposition and several people in the court say that Gvenetadze was being suppressed by those who did not wish to see genuine reforms in the court system.
They believe that constant confrontations inside the court were the real reason for the resignation.
