President Says Justice Council a Failure

President Shevardnadze said today on government session, that the Council of Justice, created to administer the reform in Georgia’s courts is a failure. “We only mantled the judges and created the pompous ceremonies of swearing in,” Shevardnadze argued.

The President also stated that he would step down from the Chairmanship of Justice Council and even “disband” it. However, the Council of Justice was created under authority of the Parliament of Georgia and President has no legal powers of disbanding it.

The journalists argue that President’s irritation was caused by the Head of the Council Gia Kavtaradze, who reportedly filed for resignation today after Justice Minister Mikheil Saakashvili left office on September 19.

The Council of Justice was instrumental in conducting large-scale reform of the courts and re-certification of the Judges that was conducted with core assistance of the U.S. government and the European Union.