The Public Defender of Georgia calls on the Constitutional Court to consider the constitutional lawsuits requesting the suspension of disputed norms as soon as possible.

In accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 25 of the Organic Law of Georgia on the Constitutional Court of Georgia, "If the Constitutional Court considers that the application of a normative act can cause irreparable consequences for one of the parties, it may suspend the disputed act or the relevant part of it until the final decision is made or for a shorter period of time."

Taking into account the peculiarities of the constitutional justice system, the mechanism of suspension of disputed acts protects the plaintiff from the inevitable and irreversible violation of the right and provides the opportunity of effective protection of human rights through the Constitutional Court. The legislation of the Constitutional Court provides for the suspension of the validity of the disputed norm only when there is a real danger that its application may lead to irreparable consequences for the party. Accordingly, the institution of suspending the validity of the disputed norm is aimed at preventing those inevitable and irreversible threats that may not be remedied even after the Constitutional Court declares the relevant act unconstitutional.

The Public Defender of Georgia, as a party to the constitutional litigation, currently requests the suspension of disputed norms in three constitutional lawsuits, the registration numbers of which are: 1684,[1] 1700[2] and 1724.[3] The lawsuits were registered on February 17, May 6 and August 23, 2022, respectively.

It is noteworthy that two of the above-mentioned lawsuits concern the protection of human health and safety. In particular, constitutional lawsuit No. 1684 concerns the restriction of the right to equal use of the hepatitis C elimination programme for certain categories of persons. Constitutional lawsuit No. 1724 disputes the legislative amendments adopted by the Parliament of Georgia in an accelerated manner on June 23, 2022, which made it possible to carry out constructions in Batumi without observing the sustainability, fire safety and evacuation norms.

Constitutional lawsuit No. 1700 challenges the changes adopted in an accelerated manner in December 2021, which: quadrupled the deadlines for involuntary transfer of judges to other courts; created possibility of removing judges from the cases in the process of disciplinary responsibility, which created the possibility to immediately terminate the authority of the judges. It should be taken into account that some of the judges have also applied to the Constitutional Court with a constitutional lawsuit of similar content. The validity of the above lawsuits was shared by the Venice Commission as well.[4]

The Public Defender of Georgia calls on the Constitutional Court to consider the constitutional lawsuits in which the plaintiff requests the suspension of the disputed norm in the shortest possible time, as if the disputed norms continue to be in force, it is possible that they lead to the results that cannot be remedied even if the norm is declared unconstitutional.

[1] https://www.constcourt.ge/ka/judicial-acts?legal=13299;

[2] https://www.constcourt.ge/ka/judicial-acts?legal=13758;

[3] https://www.constcourt.ge/ka/judicial-acts?legal=14062;

[4] Available at: https://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/?pdf=CDL-AD(2022)010-e