Judge Insulted OSCE Observers

OSCE observers were insulted at the Gurjaani District Court. Paul Wesson and Norbert Baldia, long-term observers from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), tried to meet Shalva Mchedlishvili, the chairperson of the court. The judge expelled them from his quarters.

The observers tried to find out what happened with the support of an interpreter present, but in vain. The judge, having left his quarter, immediately rushed to the chancellery. When foreigners followed him to the chancellery, Mchedlishvili ran back to his quarter again. Before locking his room the judge ran into Norbert Baldia in the door. 

“I have never witnessed a situation like this. It is shame,” said Baldia.

The OSCE long-term observers visited the court to receive public information. They wanted to meet the chairperson of the court but the latter categorically refused to issue any kind of information on how the court discussed the complaints of local observers about the violations observed during the elections.

Lawyers for the non-governmental organization Human Rights Center appealed to the court on January 10 and requested to declare results of several election districts invalid. The suitors claim that Judge Mchedlishvili requested them to withdraw their appeals immediately, but lawyers did not agree. “The judge did not try to hide his fear after suits were brought to the court. He asked us to appeal his judgment at the appellate court because he was not going to satisfy it.” We were surprised at his statement. The judge inquired whether we had appealed to any other courts in the Kakheti region with similar complaints.

The suit is based on documents which confirm that the elections were flawed. Based on the documents submitted to the court it is clear that the board of the Precinct Election Commission has committed a crime. Thus, the judge could not reject our appeal because it is part of another verdict concerning violations of election procedures. It states that the observer, who brought the case to the court, according to his/her mandate, had the right to observe the election process from December 27, 2007 until January 7, 2008. Consequently, since the suit was brought to the court on January 10 the suitor does not have the right to discuss the case. In parallel, the court drew up a protocol which states that the court granted the applicant two hours to improve the mistake in the appeal. However the mistake was not improved. Consequently the judge refused to accept the appeal. The protocol, that is signed by Nino Omarashvili, the head of the Court Chancellery and Nino Kachlishvili, assistant to the judge, states that the judge was out of order in not accepting the appeal on the grounds of not correcting the mistake. “We did not have information about that judgment; they have not informed us about it on the phone,” said representatives of the Human Rights Center. The organization demands the Georgian Council of Justice to launch immediate disciplinary actions against Judge Shalva Mchedlishvili.

OSCE observers met local observers regarding the incident and learned about the violations that were observed in Kakheti region; how ballot papers were flawed and how observers were physically assaulted.

Local observers gave OSCE representatives photo materials and proof of the violations observed in the region.

Nobody made comments on the incident at the Gurjaani Court. The spokesperson of the Supreme Court refused to comment on insulting the OSCE observers.

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti