Page 5 - GEORptMay19.pdf

2.0 Politics
2.1 Georgia passes controversial Law on Common Courts
Georgia’s parliament has passed a draft law amending the Law on the Common Courts in its second reading with a large majority, but the law has already prompted criticism from foreign development partners and NGOs.
A total of 87 lawmakers on April 19 voted in favour of the draft law on the selection and appointment of Supreme Court judges, while 31 votes were cast against it.
Opposition MPs claimed recommendations of the Venice Commission have not been taken into consideration and that the legislative amendments were being introduced forcibly. They said the move was being carried out on the orders of the country’s richest individual, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who leads the ruling Georgian Dream party.
“We are disappointed about the recently passed legislation,” Acting US Ambassador to Georgia Ross Wilson said on April 23, commenting on judicial reform in Georgia. The diplomat regretted that the legislation did not include all the recommendations issued by international organisations.
“We're a bit disappointed about the recently passed legislation, because the recommendations issued by the EU, Council of Europe, OSCE and Venice Commission have not fully and relevantly been taken into consideration. We hope that attention will be drawn to these issues in the future. The process must be transparent, the parliament must fulfil its critical role in this process and we must get the judges in the Supreme Court who will enjoy high public confidence," Wilson said.
President Salome Zurabishvili defended the law as passed by the parliament. She noted that Georgian Dream took into account four out of the five main recommendations of the Commission. The only recommendation that was not taken into account was the abolition of secret balloting during the judge selection process, she said.
“This recommendation creates some inconvenience because it was the Venice Commission that recommended making the ballot secret in 2014,” she said.
In addition, Zurabishvili said that the Venice Commission’s recommendation relating to the appointment of judges after the 2020 parliamentary elections was more political than legal.
2.2 Most Georgians believe judiciary under political control
Transparency International Georgia has released the results of a public opinion survey which shows that trust in the judiciary in Georgia is very low.
5 GEORGIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com