“The demand to ban political parties and the constitutional lawsuit are unprecedented. This directly means that repressive policies are entering their culminating phase. They intend to have the Constitutional Court make a decision to eliminate political parties at a stroke,” Eka Beselia, founder of the House of Justice, told InterpressNews.

According to Beselia, banning opposition political associations would not only cause enormous damage to the political process and undermine the Constitutional Court’s reputation, but would also harm Georgian Dream itself.

“This will be a ‘message’ to the European Union that we do not care what the EU or the European Commission says and that we will do whatever we want. On the other hand, the fact that hearings have already been scheduled means that they had been waiting for something until now. The court president was replaced, and two judges were appointed. It is clear that Parliament cannot elect Constitutional Court judges because it does not have the required quorum.

The case has been referred to the Plenum of the Constitutional Court, and given its current composition, the Plenum will have a lower quorum requirement. They are preparing to make this decision more quickly and through an accelerated process. Of course, this will be a damaging process in many respects,” Beselia said.

Beselia comments on Manana Kobakhidze’s departure from the Constitutional Court

Commenting on Manana Kobakhidze’s decision to leave her position as a Constitutional Court judge, Beselia said she would welcome the decision if Kobakhidze had resigned voluntarily. However, if she had been forced to leave, “that would be a crime, and Kobakhidze herself should speak about it.”

Beselia also emphasized that she had long felt Kobakhidze should have expressed opposition to such significant legal issues.

“I welcome Manana Kobakhidze’s decision. Constitutional Court judges have been given very difficult assignments. I have always wondered about this. She probably had objections, but perhaps had been unable to express them until now. I have known Manana Kobakhidze for years. We were friends before entering Parliament and before Georgian Dream came to power. We sat next to each other in Parliament for several years and worked together.

Based on her work, I always felt that she should have objected to such significant legal issues that systematically undermined human rights.

I do not know whether she was subjected to any pressure or made the decision independently, but the fact is that she expressed her critical position when she requested recusal. This already meant that she did not want to participate in this decision.

This is a good thing because the legal profession remembers such principled decisions for a very long time. Professional reputation and credibility are among the most important and valuable things, and they cannot be outweighed by the interests of a political team or instructions from someone to whom a person is accountable. A judge’s freedom in the administration of justice is so important that there can be no justification for a judge losing that freedom,” Beselia stated.