No to Obedient Judges!

Jimsher Rekhviashvili, Radio Liberty

On December 15, protest rally was held in front of the office of the High Council of Justice of Georgia, where members of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and representatives of the NGOs unified under the Coalition for Independent and Transparent Judiciary, brought banners and protested participation of the HCJ Secretary Levan Murusidze in the competition of judges.

In April 2016, Levan Murusidze’s 10-year term on the position of the judge at the Supreme Court of Georgia will expire and now wishes to be a judge at the Appeal Court. Levan Murusidze is associated with the reduced sentences for the convicts in the murder of Sandro Girgvliani and guilty verdict against Sulkhan Molashvili, former head of the Chamber of Control. 

Organizers of the protest rally brought banners in front of the HCJ building: “No to Obedient Judges,” “Justice without Grey Cardinals,” “Take Murusidze Away,” etc. 

Chairman of the Bar Association Zaza Khatiashvili said Levan Murusidze was the main leverage of injustice in the judiciary system. “Levan Murusidze is a judge, who signed illegal decision on Girgvliani’s case; who discussed the case of tortured Giorgi Mikiashvili 41 days later though he had to schedule forensic expertise within 24 hours. Levan Murusidze participated in the court proceedings against Sulkhan Molashvili.”

Executive director of Human Rights Center Aleko Tskitishvili also participated in the demonstration; he also attended the interview process with the candidates in the HCJ. During the interview Levan Murusidze was asked about the cases, for what the civil sector protests his participation in the competition.

“He tried to expose himself as a victim when answering the questions and claimed that he was victim of political decisions and the law did not allow him to implement the judiciary practice in fair manner,” Aleko Tskitishvili told Radio Liberty.

According to him, Levan Murusidze justified his activities with the abovementioned arguments when commenting on the reduced imprisonment term for the convicts in the murder of Sandro Girgvliani; however Aleko Tskitishvili said Levan Murusidze could not present credible arguments about the cases of Sulkhan Molashvili and Giorgi Mikiashvili. “We remember Mikiashvili’s case. He was brother of journalist Nino Mikiashvili, who was brutally beaten and tortured by police officers during detention; the young man had serious injuries. The lawyers requested expertise but it was so delayed that it was already useless to conduct any expertise on him when it was scheduled. This fact was mentioned in the decision of the Strasbourg Court. It is also interesting what he said about Molashvili’s case: he said he was convinced that Molashvili was guilty in the imposed charge and passed the verdict in accordance to his personal belief. However, it is obvious that he had to decline the evidence, which were obtained by prosecutor illegally – through torture, and should not have passed guilty verdict based on that evidence.”

Aleko Tskitishvili said the candidate answered questions but big part of the civil society attending the interview process was not satisfied with his answers. Among them was Ana Natsvlishvili, chairwoman of the GYLA. “It was staged performance, which aimed to legitimate Levan Murusidze before the civil society organizations. With this action, the HCJ allowed Murusidze to present all his past illegal and unjust activities as correct and just. What did Levan Murusidze say today? He said he was victim of bad laws and he could not do anything. It means if tomorrow we will have dictatorship in Georgia, he will legitimize it too.”

In response to these arguments, Levan Murusidze said he gave well-argumented answers to all questions. “I explained my attitude towards concrete cases to the Council members and I believe my answers were argumented. Now the Council shall make decision. I hope the Council members will support my candidature.”

There are 14 members in the High Council of Justice. Among them 8 members are judges, 4 members were appointed by the parliament and 1 by the President. Chairwoman of the Supreme Court of Georgia is the 14th member of the Council. According to the HCJ 104 applicants participate in the competition for 61 vacant places.

Head of the Transparency International – Georgia Eka Gigauri said neither the appointment rule nor transparency of the process can handle criticism. 

“Today we saw that when promoting or appointing judges the Council does not act in accordance to the criteria which are necessary to select the most honorable candidates among applicants. On one side, it was important for the system not to dismiss all judges from courts but on the other side everybody expected that the Council will consider all aspects when appointing or promoting concrete judges. But as we see it is not a political will now to make the process transparent and keep worthy candidates in the system,” Eka Gigauri told Radio Liberty.