MP Beselia Says Mission Accomplished, For Now

MP Eka Beselia says her goal “not to allow” the list of Supreme Court nominations pass the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee and plenary vote “is accomplished for now.”

The Georgian Dream lawmaker spoke on the issue in a press conference on January 14, three days after the party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili accused her of “acting against the team” in the Supreme Court appointments dispute, and two days after Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the Parliament will develop new rules for judicial appointments.

MP Beselia said she welcomes the recent decision. “I am not interested in who will claim the results; what’s important for me is that the list has been suspended, that it won’t be endorsed by the Parliament and that it won’t be discussed by the Legal Affairs Committee,” she noted.

Beselia stressed her resignation from the post of the Legal Affairs Committee chair “was worth it.”

“The process is not over yet … it’s important for me and my colleagues that we achieve the final goal – to create a just and independent judiciary for our country and our future, … to ensure that the judges who served [Mikheil] Saakashvili’s oppressive regime will not be nominated for lifetime appointments in the Supreme Court,” Beselia noted.

Beselia refrained from speaking about Bidzina Ivanishvili’s criticism against her. “My professional ethics has never allowed me to openly and publicly confront the people, whom I have defended as a lawyer, including Bidzina Ivanishvili,” the lawmaker said.

Asked to comment on reports of her possible departure from the ruling party, Beselia said it will depend on how the appointments process will unfold. “It depends on what decision the majority group will take on the list; I won’t be a member of a majority group that votes for judges affiliated with Mikheil Saakashvili’s oppressive regime,” she added.

Dispute in the Georgian Dream party started in late December, when the High Council of Justice, the body overseeing the judiciary, submitted a ten-member list of Supreme Court nominations to the Parliament, triggering the resignation of Eka Beselia.

MP Eka Beselia claims the party’s parliamentary leadership, including Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, was lobbying the controversial list of judicial nominees, which she argues includes some judges who “served Mikheil Saakashvili’s oppressive regime.”

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