On December 24, as a result of vote, the High Council of Justice of Georgia nominated 10 judicial candidates of the Supreme Court. The above-mentioned authority of the High Council of Justice is determined by the Constitution of Georgia which took effect on December 16. The important novelty of the constitutional reform is the determination of the role of the High Council of Justice in the process of selecting judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

The relevant amendments were made to the legislation after the new Constitution took effect, However, unfortunately, there is no detailed, transparent procedure for the selection or submission of candidates of the chairperson or judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia by the High Council of Justice, or any clearly defined assessment criteria. The above-mentioned grants the Council an indefinite discretion that may inspire a feeling of injustice among some individuals.

The High Council of Justice was set up to promote independence and effective functioning of the judiciary. The purpose of its involvement (instead of political officials) in the election of judges of the Supreme Court was to make the process healthier. Consequently, the process of selection and submission of candidates of the chairperson and judges of the Supreme Court by the High Council of Justice should be transparent and highly objective.

The Public Defender of Georgia welcomes the procedure established by the new Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Georgia, according to which, the relevant committee of the Parliament shall set up a working group for promoting the assessment of the compliance of the candidates of the chairperson and judges of the Supreme Court with the requirements of the Constitution and/or other laws of Georgia. Naturally, the above is one of the ways, but not the only way of making the process of selection of judges healthier. The transparency standard must be observed as early as the stage of submission of judicial candidates and all legitimate questions of the public, the judiciary corps and all those, who meet the criteria set for the Supreme Court judges with their professional experience and qualifications, should be answered.

The Supreme Court of Georgia is the highest cassation institution of justice. It plays a special role in the Georgian judiciary system and naturally its influence on the protection of human rights is crucial. At the same time, it should be noted that according to Article 25 of the Constitution of Georgia, every citizen of Georgia has the right to occupy any public office if he meets the requirements set by the legislation. This right should be realized on an equal basis.

The Public Defender of Georgia believes that on December 24, the process of nomination of judicial candidates of the Supreme Court by the High Council of Justice was not transparent and the public is not informed of the objective criteria that guided the Council. It is also not known why none of the candidates was submitted from the outside of the judicial system or why it was impossible to submit other acting judges to the Parliament. In addition, the fact that 2 members of the Council of Justice are on the list submitted to the Parliament raises questions.

The Public Defender calls on the Parliament to stop the process of reviewing the submitted judicial candidates (by voting against at the plenary session), to immediately start working on making amendments and additions to the law on general courts and to develop transparent procedure for selecting and submitting candidates of the chairperson and judges of the Supreme Court of Georgia through the involvment of stakeholders.