Supreme Court judicial candidates have today released a joint statement asking the Parliament of Georgia not to resume discussion of their candidacies. According to the statement, the Georgian legislation does not envisage the possibility of recalling the candidates nominated by the High Council of Justice of Georgia and, to avoid unhealthy speculation, they ask the Parliament not to resume the discussions.

“On December 24, 2018, upon the decision of the Supreme Council of Justice of Georgia, our candidatures were submitted to the Parliament of Georgia for the appointment of the Supreme Court judges…The decision was followed by an unhealthy agiotage, including in the Parliament of Georgia, and it was declared that procedures and criteria should be developed for selection of the Supreme Court judges and the candidates should be re-nominated through new rules. Regrettably, unethical and insulting statements were made towards the nominated candidates and these statements artificially turned into the campaign of an unprecedented pressure on judicial power, where direct appeals are made regarding decomposition of the Supreme Council of Justice and expel of unacceptable judges, including the judges included on this list, from the judicial system. All this directly damages judicial independence and grossly violates the principle of the legal state.

While the Supreme Council of Justice has acted within its mandate unambiguously and strictly abide by the current laws, we do not want certain people to be able to use this situation for their political purposes and to further damage an ongoing process by the artificially created noise and to give shade to the authority of the judicial branch of the government.

In addition, we are taking into account the fact that the Georgian legislation does not involve the possibility of recalling the candidates nominated by the High Council of Justice of Georgia and, to avoid unhealthy speculation, we ask the Parliament not to resume the discussion of our candidacies, “ the statement reads.

The statement is signed by all 10 candidates : Mariam Tsiskadze, Nino Kadagidze, Mikheil Chinchaladze, Paata Silagadze, Dimitri Gvritishvili, Merab Gabinashvili, Nino Sandodze, Tamar Alania, Giorgi Tkavadze and Giorgi Mikautadze.