The Public Defender of Georgia has applied to the Constitutional Court of Georgia to remove Khvicha Kikilashvili from the case concerning the constitutionality of the rules of selection of Supreme Court judicial candidates by the High Council of Justice.

According to the protocol №3/24/1459 of the Constitutional Court of Georgia dated December 17, 2019, the constitutional claim of the Public Defender was accepted for consideration on its merits. On April 3, 2020, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Georgia appointed Khvicha Kikilashvili as a judge of the Constitutional Court of Georgia. The swearing-in ceremony of the selected judge took place in the Constitutional Court on April 8 and Kikilashvili has been authorized to be involved in the consideration of cases by the Constitutional Court.

It should be noted that not all members were present at the Plenum session. It was attended by 18 members, 17 of whom were elected or are now participating in the competition on the basis of the rule being appealed to the Constitutional Court.

The Public Defender of Georgia believes that there are both subjective and objective circumstances relating to judge Khvicha Kikilashvili, which cast doubt on the impartiality of the member of the Constitutional Court.

The vast majority of the Supreme Court Plenum, which elected Khvicha Kikilashvili, a member of the Constitutional Court, is directly interested that the rules of selection of Supreme Court judicial candidates not be declared unconstitutional. This circumstance is crucial in the sense that if the Constitutional Court declares the disputed norms unconstitutional, this would call into question the legitimacy of the decisions made by relevant judges of the Supreme Court.

The circumstances of judge Kikilashvili's subjective bias also raise suspicions. Even the Plenum of the Supreme Court had no information about the candidate in advance. In addition, neither his biography nor any information about him has been published. The audio information about the Plenum session clearly shows that the Supreme Court Plenum devoted 15 minutes of the session to the discussion of the above issue and the appointment of judge Kikilashvili to the Constitutional Court. In order to substantiate his high and special professional criteria, it was indicated that he had been "silently" exercising his authority in the common court for years. The candidate did not talk about his visions, nor the members of the Plenum asked him about the above. All these circumstances, together with the fact that 17 out of 18 members of the Supreme Court have a direct interest in the constitutional suit #1459, raise suspicions of subjective interest towards Mr. Khvicha Kikilashvili in relation to this case.

We call on the Constitutional Court of Georgia to timely consider our motions concerning the challenge to the judges and the suspension of the disputed norm, so that to avoid irreparable results in the case.