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President Names Supreme Court Chair Candidate

February 17, 2015
 
Civil Georgia

President Giorgi Margvelashvili named former judge of Supreme Court, Nino Gvenetadze, as a candidate for the post of Supreme Court chairperson to replace Kote Kublashvili, whose ten-year term in office expires this month.

Gvenetadze will require support of at least 76 MPs to be endorsed on the post.

She was one of those three judges, who in 2005spoke out publicly against what they called was pressure on judges by the authorities. Dubbed by the media as “rebel judges”, they claimed at the time that some Supreme Court judges were forced by prosecutor’s office and Chairman of Supreme Court Kota Kublashvili to file for resignations. After leveling those allegations, Gvenetadze and several other members of the Supreme Court were dismissed by the judicial disciplinary commission in December, 2005, accusing them of misconduct.

Gvenetadze has been selected by the President from the list of 28 contenders.

President Margvelashvili said while announcing decision on February 17 that his choice, apart of requirements set by the law, was based on criteria which were agreed upon as a result of his consultations with civil society and political groups in the Parliament, involving “being principled, professional, having managerial skills, and being free from political influences.”

Before serving for six years as a member of the Supreme Court till late 2005, Gvenetadze was head of Tbilisi-based legal advocacy and rights group, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) in 1998-1999.

In 2008 parliamentary elections she was running for a seat in the legislative body from the Republican Party, which at the time was in opposition and which failed to clear electoral threshold to endorse candidates to the Parliament.

Touching upon her political background, President Margvelashvili said that Gvenetadze was a member of the Republican Party when this latter was in the opposition, but “suspended her membership in this party” after the Republicans came into power as part of the Georgian Dream ruling coalition in late 2012.

“I think that this is also an important part of this person’s biography,” Margvelashvili said.

“The person selected by us is a symbol of being principled, has a huge experience and knowledge of the judicial system,” the President said.

“The person selected by us is a symbol of protection of the judiciary and a symbol that there are judges in Georgia for whom the rule of law and strength of judicially is supreme,” the President said. “The person selected by us is a symbol of being principled, has a huge experience and knowledge of the judicial system.”

He also said that he believes Gvenetadze’s nomination will serve to an “irreversible” process of strengthening independence of the judiciary.

After being named as a candidate, Gvenetadze said that in case of her approval on the post by the Parliament her “primary goal will be protection of dignity” of judges and their rights.

“[Overcoming] difficult challenges, facing improvement of judicial system, based on rule of law and human rights priority, require support of the entire judiciary,” she said.

Photo: president’s administration:
President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his pick for Supreme Court chair, Nino Gvenetadze, 
in the presidential palace, February 17, 2015. 

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