The Parliament of Georgia is considering a draft law submitted by the members of the parliamentary majority, which has already been adopted in the first reading. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Parliament addressed the Venice Commission and asked for the preparation of a report on the draft law. An opinion has also been publicly expressed that the draft law would not be adopted in the second reading until the preparation of a report by the Venice Commission.

The Public Defender of Georgia pays special attention to the reformation of the rule of election of Supreme Court judges. That's why we used our authority on 27 March 2019 and asked the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to prepare a report on the draft law as soon as possible.

On 12 April 2019, unfortunately, it became known that the Committee on Legal Issues plans to consider the draft law in the second reading before the submission of a report by the Venice Commission, on 15 April 2019, and no public explanations have been provided about the motive of this decision.

Given that the Parliament is conducting the process in a hasty manner, the Public Defender’s Office, for the first time in its history, made a decision to use its authority in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament to address the Members of Parliament with a report on the above-mentioned draft law and shortcomings in it. After addressing the Parliament, the Public Defender will be ready to answer MPs’ questions.

The relevant request has already been sent to the Parliament of Georgia. According to the procedure, the Bureau of Parliament shall determine the date of presentation of the Public Defender’s report. The Public Defender has also requested a permission to attend the Bureau sitting and participate in the decision-making process relating to procedures.