The participants of the political dialogue made a statement regarding the election of the Supreme Court judges

The participants of the political dialogue made a statement regarding the election of the Supreme Court judges

The participants of the political dialogue - Irakli Kobakhidze, Archil Talakvadze, and Shalva Papuashvili made a statement regarding the election of the Supreme Court judges. Previously Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State of our main strategic partner the United States, made a statement regarding the election of Supreme Court justices has been released today, saying that the election of judges contravenes the April 19 Political Agreement. As participants of the political dialogue stated they are willing to express our deep respect for the Secretary of State and, in agreement with the party's political team, clarify once again the basis for the respective decision of the parliamentary majority. “ As the public is well aware, in March 2021, there were active negotiations around the content of the April 19 agreement. We - Irakli Kobakhidze, Archil Talakvadze, and Shalva Papuashvili - personaly agreed the points related to the selection of judges of the Supreme Court with international partners. In particular, the Agreement should have "paused" the ongoing process of selecting Supreme Court judges, revised the selection procedure in accordance with key recommendations of the Venice Commission, amended the law to allow additional candidates to apply, and only then continued the selection process. During the negotiations, the fact was emphasized that, in case of acting in accordance with the above-mentioned agreement, the current process of selecting judges would no longer be rendered meaningless and the existing composition of the High Council of Justice would be given the opportunity to complete the procedure! The mentioned oral agreement was accurately reflected in the first draft of the political agreement published by Christian Danielson on March 31, according to which the Georgian Dream had launched a respective action in March, before signing the document, and the relevant bill through the initiative was submitted to the Georgian Parliament on March 24. On March 31, when Christian Danielsson left Georgia and announced the initial draft of the political agreement, Chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze made a public statement that the Georgian Dream would initiate legislative changes related to the elections and the judiciary, even without signing any political agreement. In line with this promise and the document published by Christian Danielsson, the Parliamentary majority completed the process and adopted the draft amendments to the Organic Law of Georgia on Common Courts with three hearings in April. The Law adopted by the Parliament thoroughly reflects all three key recommendations by the Venice Commission, in particular: open voting and full publicity have been introduced; A rule for making decisions by the High Council of Justice according to the nominees’ scores has been introduced; A quadruple appeal rule relating to the decision made by the Council decisions has been introduced. The bill passed by the Parliament was sent to the Venice Commission, which did not submit any remarks on any of the above points. Although, the Parliament of Georgia had already fulfilled all the conditions stipulated in the draft Political Agreement before April 19, the text published on March 31 remained unchanged in the agreement signed on April 19. Georgian Dream informed its international partners about these and other similar circumstances, and the partners requested that we sign the April 19 agreement without additional amendments, so that the amendments would not cause additional political complications, and the inaccuracies in the document be clarified during the implementation process. We took into consideration the mentioned request of the partners. It was a result of this oral agreement, for example, that the four-month anti-deadlock mechanism was replaced with a four-week mechanism in the Electoral Code. Thus, all the conditions of the political agreement were completely fulfilled: the government refrained from appointing judges of the Supreme Court in accordance with the old rules; In accordance with the recommendation agreed with international partners, the High Council of Justice paused the interview process; Parliament passed a law fully outlining all three key recommendations by the Venice Commission; The new law also allowed additional candidates to participate in the application and selection process. Accordingly, the decisions of the High Council of Justice regarding the nominations of the candidates for the judges of the Supreme Court were made in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia, legislation, and the political agreement. This circumstance imposed an obligation on the Parliament of Georgia to act in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia and elect judges of the Supreme Court. Let us remind you that the Georgian Dream has carefully taken into account the 2019 recommendation by the Venice Commission, according to which one half of the judges of the Supreme Court should be elected by the parliament of the ninth (previous) and the other half by the tenth (current) convocation. Prior to that, the so-called first, second, third, and fourth waves of reforms, which have received positive reviews from international partners. Constitutional reform was carried out and a new version of the judiciary was formed, which also received high praise from the Venice Commission. Against this background, it is alarming that due to the unscrupulous actions of individual officials, the high level structures of our main strategic partner country are being provided with distorted information about the implementation of the political agreement. Such actions threaten any dialogue that may take place in the future around various domestic issues. During the political negotiations, we constantly provided detailed information about the content of the negotiations to the government team and the parliamentary majority. Accordingly, each member of the team was thoroughly informed about the details of the document and it was with these details in mind that they decided to join the April 19 agreement. Consequently, for each member of the team, the statements and assessments that apply to the selection of Supreme Court judges are surprising and concerning. Georgian Dream has qualitatively transformed the judiciary system since 2012. The system, which was one of the main links in the repressive machine of the National Movement, which was directly involved in the persecution of people, business racketeering and many other systemic crimes, today stands in the service of the rule of law and human rights. This fundamental progress is reflected in both statistical data and ratings of highly reputable international institutions. However, we understand that the independence and efficiency of the judiciary system requires constant strengthening. Therefore, we have expressed our readiness to continue judicial reform and we will carry out this task together with our international partners. Further strengthening the independence and efficiency of the judiciary is the national task of our country. We would like to remind you that, therefore, the continuation of judicial reform is an integral part of not only the political agreement of April 19, but also the election program of the Georgian Dream. We are ready to discuss in detail with our strategic partners in any format the content of the political agreement and the state of its implementation, which will finally shed light on the truth” - was said in a statement. Finally they expressed their gratitude towards the United States, the American people, the State Department, and Anthony Blinken personally for their strong and comprehensive support of Georgia and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.




The participants of the political dialogue - Irakli Kobakhidze, Archil Talakvadze, and Shalva Papuashvili made a statement regarding the election of the Supreme Court judges. Previously Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State of our main strategic partner the United States, made a statement regarding the election of Supreme Court justices has been released today, saying that the election of judges contravenes the April 19 Political Agreement. As participants of the political dialogue stated they are willing to express our deep respect for the Secretary of State and, in agreement with the party's political team, clarify once again the basis for the respective decision of the parliamentary majority. “ As the public is well aware, in March 2021, there were active negotiations around the content of the April 19 agreement. We - Irakli Kobakhidze, Archil Talakvadze, and Shalva Papuashvili - personaly agreed the points related to the selection of judges of the Supreme Court with international partners. In particular, the Agreement should have "paused" the ongoing process of selecting Supreme Court judges, revised the selection procedure in accordance with key recommendations of the Venice Commission, amended the law to allow additional candidates to apply, and only then continued the selection process. During the negotiations, the fact was emphasized that, in case of acting in accordance with the above-mentioned agreement, the current process of selecting judges would no longer be rendered meaningless and the existing composition of the High Council of Justice would be given the opportunity to complete the procedure! The mentioned oral agreement was accurately reflected in the first draft of the political agreement published by Christian Danielson on March 31, according to which the Georgian Dream had launched a respective action in March, before signing the document, and the relevant bill through the initiative was submitted to the Georgian Parliament on March 24. On March 31, when Christian Danielsson left Georgia and announced the initial draft of the political agreement, Chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze made a public statement that the Georgian Dream would initiate legislative changes related to the elections and the judiciary, even without signing any political agreement. In line with this promise and the document published by Christian Danielsson, the Parliamentary majority completed the process and adopted the draft amendments to the Organic Law of Georgia on Common Courts with three hearings in April. The Law adopted by the Parliament thoroughly reflects all three key recommendations by the Venice Commission, in particular: open voting and full publicity have been introduced; A rule for making decisions by the High Council of Justice according to the nominees’ scores has been introduced; A quadruple appeal rule relating to the decision made by the Council decisions has been introduced. The bill passed by the Parliament was sent to the Venice Commission, which did not submit any remarks on any of the above points. Although, the Parliament of Georgia had already fulfilled all the conditions stipulated in the draft Political Agreement before April 19, the text published on March 31 remained unchanged in the agreement signed on April 19. Georgian Dream informed its international partners about these and other similar circumstances, and the partners requested that we sign the April 19 agreement without additional amendments, so that the amendments would not cause additional political complications, and the inaccuracies in the document be clarified during the implementation process. We took into consideration the mentioned request of the partners. It was a result of this oral agreement, for example, that the four-month anti-deadlock mechanism was replaced with a four-week mechanism in the Electoral Code. Thus, all the conditions of the political agreement were completely fulfilled: the government refrained from appointing judges of the Supreme Court in accordance with the old rules; In accordance with the recommendation agreed with international partners, the High Council of Justice paused the interview process; Parliament passed a law fully outlining all three key recommendations by the Venice Commission; The new law also allowed additional candidates to participate in the application and selection process. Accordingly, the decisions of the High Council of Justice regarding the nominations of the candidates for the judges of the Supreme Court were made in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia, legislation, and the political agreement. This circumstance imposed an obligation on the Parliament of Georgia to act in accordance with the Constitution of Georgia and elect judges of the Supreme Court. Let us remind you that the Georgian Dream has carefully taken into account the 2019 recommendation by the Venice Commission, according to which one half of the judges of the Supreme Court should be elected by the parliament of the ninth (previous) and the other half by the tenth (current) convocation. Prior to that, the so-called first, second, third, and fourth waves of reforms, which have received positive reviews from international partners. Constitutional reform was carried out and a new version of the judiciary was formed, which also received high praise from the Venice Commission. Against this background, it is alarming that due to the unscrupulous actions of individual officials, the high level structures of our main strategic partner country are being provided with distorted information about the implementation of the political agreement. Such actions threaten any dialogue that may take place in the future around various domestic issues. During the political negotiations, we constantly provided detailed information about the content of the negotiations to the government team and the parliamentary majority. Accordingly, each member of the team was thoroughly informed about the details of the document and it was with these details in mind that they decided to join the April 19 agreement. Consequently, for each member of the team, the statements and assessments that apply to the selection of Supreme Court judges are surprising and concerning. Georgian Dream has qualitatively transformed the judiciary system since 2012. The system, which was one of the main links in the repressive machine of the National Movement, which was directly involved in the persecution of people, business racketeering and many other systemic crimes, today stands in the service of the rule of law and human rights. This fundamental progress is reflected in both statistical data and ratings of highly reputable international institutions. However, we understand that the independence and efficiency of the judiciary system requires constant strengthening. Therefore, we have expressed our readiness to continue judicial reform and we will carry out this task together with our international partners. Further strengthening the independence and efficiency of the judiciary is the national task of our country. We would like to remind you that, therefore, the continuation of judicial reform is an integral part of not only the political agreement of April 19, but also the election program of the Georgian Dream. We are ready to discuss in detail with our strategic partners in any format the content of the political agreement and the state of its implementation, which will finally shed light on the truth” - was said in a statement. Finally they expressed their gratitude towards the United States, the American people, the State Department, and Anthony Blinken personally for their strong and comprehensive support of Georgia and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.