Civil Protest of President’s Initiative

Georgian non-governmental organization  “42nd Article of the Constitution” protests against the President’s initiative on draft constitutional amendments.

According to the amendments, the President has the right to nominate nine members of the Constitutional Court. As Ms. Lia Mukhashavria, head of the 42nd Article says, “this will promote the authoritarian regime, as the Constitutional Court will never take a decision against the President.”

According to the draft amendments, the judges of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts may  be dismissed before their terms expire. As some of the civil leaders claim, this would increase the dependence of judges on the executive authorities and effect their decision-making process.

Ms. Lia Mukhashavria considers that the composition of the Constitutional Court that will expire its term in a year and a half, should be changed after the term envisaged by the law. Also, twelve judges of the Supreme Court, who were appointed in 1997 for a term of 15 years, could be dismissed only after expiration of their terms.

“In case of adopting these amendments, the issue of impeachment of the President should be put on agenda,” says Lia Mukhashavria and calls on the society to discuss the abovementioned issue.