Watchdog: Top Positions in Courts Rotate Among ‘Judicial Clan’ Members

A new report presented by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, a local watchdog, says there is “a rotating door” approach in Georgian courts system, enabling members of “a judicial clan” to keep holding managerial posts, with only minimal rotation in key leadership positions.

Georgian civil society outfits have long been arguing about the existence of an influential group of judges – “the judicial clan” – holding sway of their colleagues in the courts system.

GYLA’s report of December 11 notes that the alleged clan members “exchange these positions among each other and travel from court to court.”

The watchdog observes that while there are 311 justices in the courts system overall, 19 of the 39 judges that hold managerial positions have been serving their posts uninterruptedly for over a decade.

Aside from 39 current managers, there are 50 judges in the first two instances of common courts that have held managerial positions at various times, the report says.

These, GYLA argues, reaffirms the argument that the Georgian judiciary is a closed system, ruled by a small group of powerful justices.

The CSO further argues that most of the influential court chairs were first appointed in the respective positions by the High Council of Justice (HCoJ) after the 2007 reform that made the HCoJ a body overseeing the judiciary.

Noting that “HCoJ regards court chairs as tools to control the [ordinary] judges,” the watchdogs reckons the alleged clan members “maintain their power on the basis of personal loyalty and pressure and define processes inside the common courts.”

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