Statement of the Georgian Court Watch regarding the election of an independent inspector

On July 2023, 27, the High Council of Justice elected Shota Kadagidze to the position of Independent Inspector with 11 votes. The HCoJ session was not attended by the chairman of the High Council of Justice, Nino Kadagidze, and the judge member, Temur Gogokhia. Shota Kadagidze was a non-judge member of the High Council of Justice in 2017-2021, who was elected to this position by the Parliament of Georgia.

Shota Kadagidze was distinguished by loyalty to the influential group in the court during his activity at the High Council of Justice, moreover, in fact, there is no matter in which he had a different position from the judge members at the Council sessions. Moreover, Shota Kadagidze expressed his position after the expiration of the term of the member of the High Council of Justice. He was one of the signatories of the statement released on July 2022, 19, which expressed support for Lasha Chkhikvadze, judge of the Nika Gvaramia case, after being removed from the study visit to the United States.

Instead, the High Council of Justice elected Shota Kadagidze to the position of an Independent Inspector, which indicates that the influential group of the judges does not leave support to them without a response. Thus, Kadagidze was able to occupy one of the important positions in the judicial system.

It should be noted that Kadagidze's candidacy was supported by three newly elected members of the High Council of Justice of Georgia (including several opposition MPs): Tristan Benashvili, Giorgi Gzobava, and Zurab Guraspashvili. This reaffirmed the new non-judicial members' Loyalty to the so-called clan.

Before the election of Shota Kadagidze, Zurab Aznaurashvili was an independent inspector, who resigned on June 2023, 16, on the basis of his personal application, so that the 5-year term of office had not expired. It is noteworthy that Zurab Aznaurashvili was appointed as the deputy chairman of the Department of Common Courts on the same day after his resignation. Deputy chairpersons of the Department of common courts shall be appointed for a term of 3 years by the secretary of the High Council of Justice of Georgia with the consent of the High Council of Justice of Georgia. Zurab Aznaurashvili did not attend the session of the High Council of Justice, at which the issue of his resignation and appointment to a new position was discussed.

In February 2017, an independent inspector's Institute was introduced into the system of common courts, which was granted the authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings against a judge and pre-examine/investigate disciplinary cases independently of the Council of Justice of Georgia.

• The Georgian Court Watch believes that the election of Shota Kadagidze to the position of an independent inspector cannot ensure the establishment of trust in the Institute of an Independent Inspector. In addition, he may pose a threat to the individual independence of the judge, since his association with an influential group of judges indicates a lack of his degree of independence.