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Parliament Puts 14 Judges on the Top Bench for Lifetime Tenure

14 new Supreme Court judges appointed, December 12, 2019. Photo: Screengrab from parliament's video

On December 12, the plenary session of the Parliament of Georgia has confirmed 14 judges out of 20 candidates for the lifetime tenure at the Supreme Court.

The judges were supported by the parliamentary majority as the opposition parties, including the United National Movement (UNM), European Georgia and former ruling party lawmakers, refused to participate in voting. 

The new Supreme Court judges are:

Gabinashvili, Mikautadze and Kadagidze were among the a ten-member list of nominees, which was slammed by civil society organizations, parliamentary opposition and a part of the ruling party MPs for the lack of transparency. As a result, all ten originally withdrew their candidacies.

The following candidates were voted down:

The plenary confirmed the decision of the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Issues which endorsed the same 14 candidates earlier today. The plenary added to five candidates rejected by the Committee also the Acting Chair of Constitutional Court Zaza Tavadze, who withdrew his candidacy on December 2.

Georgian Parliament’s Legal Issues Committee completed interviews with 20 candidates of the Supreme Court judges in September. A lengthy process of judicial selection, which started in May 2019, aimed at increasing number of the Supreme Court judges from eight to 28.

Interviews with the candidates at the Parliament’s Legal Issues Committee was strongly criticized by opposition, civil society organizations and non-judge members of the High Council of Justice. Today’s voting was also held amid protest.

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