Prosecutor’s Office said on Monday that eight members of the 9-seat Constitutional Court have been interviewed as part of ongoing investigation into alleged pressure on the Court, but all of them denied being a target of the reported pressure.
Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Giorgi Papuashvili, is the only member of the Court who has yet to be interviewed by the investigators. Prosecutor’s Office said that investigators are expected to interview Constitutional Court chair this week.
The investigation was launched after Papuashvili said at a news conference on July 21 that “some of the judges” of the Constitutional Court were “pressured” and “blackmailed” to either rule in favor of the authorities or drag out verdicts in several high-profile cases.
- Constitutional Court Judges in Public Row over High-Profile Cases
- Investigators Interview Constitutional Court Judges over Alleged Pressure
- Constitutional Court Chair Speaks of ‘Alarming Pressure’
- Prosecutor’s Office Probes into Alleged Pressure on Constitutional Court
- After Meeting Constitutional Court Chair, President Speaks of ‘Dangerous Trend’
- PM, Politicians Comment on President’s Allegation of ‘Pressure’ on his Relative
No details of this allegation are publicly available. While most of the judges have publicly stated that they were not a target of pressure, some of them – including Konstantine Vardzelashvili, Maia Kopaleishvili, and Ketevan Eremadze – also said that they were aware of purported pressure on one of the judges, and that they were ready to provide the information to investigators.
“Investigation is ongoing to verify circumstances pointed out by judges in their testimonies and representing matter of interest for investigators,” the Prosecutor’s Office said without elaborating.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)