Page 6 - GEORptMay19.pdf

A large part of the population, some 83%, believes that judges with a history of making unjust decisions under political pressure should not be working in the judiciary. A majority of respondents determined that staffing the courts with completely new judges would be the solution.
The survey concludes that 53% of the population believe the judiciary is under the influence of the ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) while 50% think that the court system is unjust.
The survey also showed that 43% of the population believe there is an influential clan of judges in the judiciary. Of those, 87% think that the clan enjoys the support of the ruling party, and 94% think that the members of the clan should leave the judiciary.
The survey was commissioned by Transparency International Georgia and was conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) in the period from February 20 to March 5, 2019. A total of 2,087 respondents were interviewed nationwide. The survey has a margin of error of 2.3%.
2.3 Georgia tapped to take over Council of Europe’s rotating chairmanship from November
Georgia will take over the rotating chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s (CoE’s) Committee of Ministers for a six-month term from November 2019 to May 2020, agenda.ge h as reported .
Georgia joined the CoE in 1999 under the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze.
The chairmanship will pass from France to Georgia at a meeting in mid-November at the CoE’s Strasbourg headquarters, attended by representatives of its 47 member states.
The CoE is an international organisation, the stated aim of which is to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. It was founded in 1949,
According to the CoE, the chair "acts in a neutral way and ensures that the rules and guidelines are respected”. It further “guides the discussions, puts proposals to the vote and announces decisions”.
Separately, the European Court of Human Rights (the ECHR is a body that functions within the CoE’s structures) stated on March 26 that Russia must pay from €2,000 to €15,000 each to Georgian nationals mistreated by the Russian government in the autumn of 2006, when hundreds of Georgian citizens were illegally detained and then deported from Russia.
Earlier this year on January 31, the court announced its judgment in the case of Georgia v. Russia, regarding the arrest, detention and collective expulsion of Georgian nationals from Russia in the autumn of 2006.
The ECHR held by 16 votes to one that Russia has to pay Georgia €10mn euros for non-pecuniary damage suffered by a group of at least 1,500 Georgian nationals .
6 GEORGIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com