The Constitutional Court Plenum rejected the United National Movement’s motion to recuse Judge Eva Gotsiridze
The Constitutional Court Plenum rejected the United National Movement’s motion seeking the recusal of Judge Eva Gotsiridze.
The relevant decision was announced by Constitutional Court President Revaz Nadaraia.
“The Plenum rejects the aforementioned motion as unfounded. The main objection concerned Ms. Eva, with the claim that the way she phrased her questions indicated that she had already formed a preconceived position and opinion regarding the case.
What we heard was the question: ‘Does the party not share responsibility?’ This is a question posed by a judge in order to hear the party’s position on whether it accepts any responsibility. It is the party’s right to provide whatever answer it considers appropriate. The Court takes note of the answer in the form in which the respondent presents it.
No preconceived opinion or expression of a position is reflected in this question or in the way it was phrased. The Court, as well as the other members of the Plenum, listened to the questions posed by Eva Gotsiridze yesterday. The arguments presented by the party revealed no indication that Eva Gotsiridze had already formed an opinion regarding the case. On the contrary, the members of the Plenum unanimously gained the impression that there is an attempt to prevent the judge from asking critical questions - questions necessary for reaching an objective decision in the case.
The Court is obliged to ask questions concerning all the allegations raised and hear the parties’ views on them.
If a question is perceived as sharp in its substance and the Court asks a pointed question, this does not mean that the Court has formed an opinion in favor of either party. On the contrary, the more information the Court obtains from the parties, the better positioned it is to reach the correct decision in the case.
No one will be able to use a motion for recusal to restrict a judge’s ability to ask objective questions. That is impossible! This was the impression left with the Court, and all members of the Plenum shared this position,” Revaz Nadaraia stated.
For the record, representatives of the United National Movement had filed a motion with the Court seeking the recusal of Judge Eva Gotsiridze.
“The motion is based on the combination of the assessments expressed by the judge during the court hearing and her reaction to the respondent’s answer, which gives an objective observer reasonable grounds to suspect that the judge has already formed a negative attitude towards the central issue of the dispute under consideration,” stated Ana Tsitlidze, a representative of the respondent party.
