Up to 20% of judges did not attend the 31st conference

24.10.2022

Conference of judges

Two new members of the High Council of justice were elected at the conference - Levan Murusidze and Dimitri Gvritishvili.
Detailed election results
Election of Levan Murusidze:
Election of Dimitri Gvritishvili
Judges' attendance at the conference

On October 2022, 23, the 31st Conference of Georgian judges was held at the High School of Justice. The agenda included the following issues:

Hearing the report of the secretary of the High Council of Justice of Georgia;
Hearing the report of the independent inspector of the High Council of Justice of Georgia;
Hearing of the report of the chairman of the Department of general courts of LEPL;
Election of Judge member/members of the independent board of the High School of Justice of Georgia;
Election of Judge member/members of the High Council of Justice of Georgia;
Election of Judge members/members of the disciplinary panel of judges of the common courts of Georgia.

The highest attention was paid to the election of the judge member/members of the High Council of Justice of Georgia.

Two new members of the High Council of justice were elected at the conference - Levan Murusidze and Dimitri Gvritishvili.

Dimitri Gvritishvili was a member of the High Council of justice from 2017 to 2021. Levan Murusidze was the secretary of the High Council of justice from 2013 to 2017.

Although the High Council of Justice of Georgia continues its activities with incomplete composition for more than 1 year, the judge members were fully represented in the composition of the council, therefore it is clear that it was necessary to have "vacant" seats. Two members of the High Council of Justice resign:

Gocha Abuseridze-member of the High Council of Justice from May 2021, 26.
Giorgi Goginashvili-member of the High Council of justice since October 2021, 31.

It should be noted that Gocha Abuseridze was elected by the plenum of the Supreme Court on October 2022, 17 as a member of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. Giorgi Goginashvili first resigned as a member of the High Council of justice, while the October 23 (31st) Conference of judges elected him as a judge member of the disciplinary panel of judges of the common courts of Georgia.

Accordingly, it became necessary to elect new judge members.

Two candidates were nominated at the conference:

Dimitri Gvritishvili, whose candidacy was raised by other judges participating in the conference;
Levan Murusidze presented his candidacy himself.

Surprisingly, none of the other 279 judges expressed a desire to join the High Council of Justice. Although according to the law: "any judge attending the conference of judges of Georgia has the right to nominate a candidate for Judge membership of the High Council of Justice. The decision is made by secret ballot with a majority of at least 2/3 of the members present at the session.“

Finally, only two candidates were voted for two vacant positions.

Detailed election results

Summary of the results of the election of two-judge members of the High Council of Justice.

Election of Levan Murusidze:

Number of printed ballot papers-279
Number of issued ballots-275
Number of remaining unused ballots-4
Number of ballot papers in the ballot box-275
Number of invalid ballots - 7
Number of real ballots-268

Levan Murusidze gained 268 votes

Election of Dimitri Gvritishvili

Number of printed ballot papers-279
Number of issued ballots-275
Number of remaining unused ballots-4
Number of ballot papers in the ballot box-275
Number of invalid ballots - 8
Number of real ballots-267

Dimitri Gvritishvili gained 267 votes

At the same conference, the members of the Independent Council of the High School of Justice were elected, who in the recent past held the positions of Judge members of the High Council of Justice:

Giorgi Mikautadze;
Vasil Mshvenieradze;
Irakli Shengelia.

The judges elected Giorgi Goginashvili with 266 votes.

On the vacant seat of the judge member of the disciplinary panel of judges of the common courts of Georgia, the judges elected Giorgi Goginashvili with 266.

3 members of the administrative committee of the conference of judges of common courts of Georgia were elected:

Tamar okropiridze - 268 votes
Ilona Todua-267 votes
Gocha Jeiranashvili - 262 votes

Ilona Todua was elected as the chairman of the administrative committee of the conference of judges of Georgia, she held the same position for 3 years. In this case, only Ilona Todua was nominated as a candidate before the Voting, other members refused to nominate their candidate at the conference.

Judges' attendance at the conference

In 2017, the total amount of judges reached about 298, in 2020-293, and 2022 - 346. We decided to see what the attendance rate of judges was in 2017, 2020, and 2022.

It turned out that in 2022, out of 346 judges, 67 did not attend the conference, which means that up to 20% of members did not participate in such an important discussion, where judges were elected for various high positions. This may indicate an increase in the number of judges who do not support the current regime ruling the court.

Leaving the High Council of justice by two Acting Judge members (Gocha Abuseridze, Giorgi Goginashvili) and electing Levan Murusidze and Dimitri Gvritishvili to the position of Judge members indicates that both cases were planned out. This is exacerbated by the fact that in turn Gocha Abuseridze and Giorgi Goginashvili took over other positions - in the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court and the disciplinary panel of judges.

In addition, as in the past years, the 31st Conference of judges was not distinguished by a large number of candidates and only 2 candidates were nominated for 2 vacant positions. It is noteworthy that the candidates did not present their programs and visions either before the conference or directly at the conference. That left the impression that their opinions are not decisive - the judge member of the Council of Justice has already been selected for Election Day and this choice is only "formalized" at the conference. It is otherwise difficult to explain why two-judge members left the board ahead of schedule.

Author: Megi Shamatava