The court's message box

Statements made by the representatives of this system have a significant impact on the public's trust in the judiciary. At such times, a certain idea is created about how fair, impartial and independent the court is. In this regard, it is interesting to review the statements of the judges, which gives a certain impression of how the message box of the court was formed and what were the messages of those judges who held high positions at different times.

2013 - 2017 years

In 2012, one of the important promises of "Georgian Dream" was the establishment of an independent court, however, after coming to power, the ruling party openly supported the incumbent judge, Levan Murusidze. He currently has 18 years of uninterrupted experience as a judge; In 2013-2017, he was the secretary of the Supreme Council of Justice. In the same period, a close relationship was established between "Georgian Dream" and the judicial authority which subsequently became the basis for a sharp increase in the powers of the Supreme Council of Justice. Finally, the absence of power balancing mechanisms had a negative impact on the judiciary as a whole, especially on the trust towards the court. In 2013-2017, Levan Murusidze, who became the chief spokesman of the judicial authority, tried to create the illusion that the degree of independence of the court had increased. At the same time, he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with civil public organizations.

“Our goal is to establish a stable judicial institution in Georgia once and for all. The judges administered justice impartially, without bias, in compliance with the law and were absolutely impartial, i.e. free from any influence, and the said meeting serves to implement exactly the stated purpose." - Levan Murusidze after meeting with Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, 2013.

"We, all our colleagues, have a common goal and to achieve this goal, they probably thought that I would be best able to… This is a great responsibility for me. I can't tell you why this happened, but I will try to justify their trust", - Levan Murusidze after he was elected as the secretary of the Supreme Council of Justice in 2013.

"I would like to point out that we had a very important and fruitful meeting, Mr. Irakli, with his visit, once again confirmed the position of the government, the authorities, that he wants the existence of independent justice in the country. I asked the Prime Minister, reported it and told him that we should have more involvement in the Ministry of Justice and our meeting, regarding the draft laws that concern the court, should not take place only at the presentation, but before the presentation and it will take place, before that there should be maximum involvement", - Levan Murusidze after the meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, 2014.

"First of all, I would like to thank Mr. Irakli for responding to my initiative regarding the meeting. We talked about the need for judicial stability, which is primarily derived from stability at the legislative level. I told Mr. Prime Minister that we will continue to state our positions in the Parliament.

"We also emphasized that it is very important for politicians to exercise caution when expressing their opinions about the court, moreover, they should refrain from expressing their positions regarding cases", - Levan Murusidze after he met Irakli Gharibashvili in the government administration, 2015.

"I met with Ivanishvili and presented my views on the judges' salaries, the independence of the court, and the problematic issues in the system. Such an independent court has never existed before. We all agree that earlier there were interventions and influences from the government. Today the court is more independent than before", - Levan Murusidze, 2016.

"We don't want this aggressive tone. Let's meet and talk, otherwise I also have a lot of information that is behind this, how it is, how it all started, but shall we not talk about it now?“ - Murusidze on the Annual Activity Report of the Council of NGOs, 2016.

"I have a very close friendly relationship with Chinchaladze and Tsertsvadze. But I am the secretary of the Council of Justice and, as far as the interests of the court and the activities of the Council of Justice in general are concerned, I act as I deem necessary. I am the secretary of the council elected by the conference, and I assure you, Levan Murusidze has the ability, knack and authority in the judiciary to make the decisions that it deems necessary." - Levan Murusidze, on the allegation of a deal with the Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court, Mikheil Chinchaladze, and the Chairman of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, Valeri Tsertsvadze, 2016.

"Today, the judiciary is more transparent, more open and efficient. This was the result of a lot of work by the previous council. I will try my best to continue these positives. We will not spare time and energy to maintain all this and to present the judicial system as open, transparent and efficient", - Irakli Shengelia, 2017.

"The spirit of our letter is directed not to any sanction, but to the solution of the problem which is called the “prestige of justice,"- Levan Murusidze on the statement issued by the Supreme Council of Justice, which concerned the sanctioning of journalists whose activities were aimed at criticizing the court, 2017.

"Freedom of expression must remain, But should there be an end to the gush of scornfulness?", - Levan Murusidze, 2017.

2018 - 2020 years

In 2018-2020, despite the fact that Levan Murusidze was no longer the secretary of the Supreme Council of Justice, he considered himself the leader of the judiciary, which was supported by the public statements of his colleagues. At the same time, the main message of the judges was that the court is one family and team. They intensely defended each other, including when it came to the conflicts of interest or nepotism.

"Levan Murusidze is a worthy person and a judge of the highest level", - Dimitri Gvritishvili, 2018.

"I consider judges to be members of my family", - Levan Murusidze, 2018.

"Clan governing does not exist in the judiciary, I am the leader", Levan Murusidze, 2018.

"Me and Murusidze have withstood so much pressure, we will deal with it with dignity", - Dimitri Gvritishvili on the "Get rid of Levan Murusidze" campaign, 2019.

"Levan Murusidze became a leader not only due to his personal merits (he [could] approach all the judges and not by blackmail and intimidation, but honestly put people on the same position) and as the secretary of the council, the judges gathered around him", - Dimitri Gvritishvili, 2019.

"This is a team with a united spirit, united around one idea, which takes care of protecting the interests of the judiciary, protecting its independence and further development, this is what they call us a clan", - Dimitri Gvritishvili, 2019.

"If that person considers himself a leader, I interpret this leader as an activist of the court",– Tamar Alania on Murusidze, 2019.

"It is not written in the law that the wife's brother is a reason to be excluded as a candidate for the Supreme".- After Levan Tevzadze presented his candidacy for the position of Supreme Court judge again, despite the fact that the member of the Supreme Council of Justice, Levan Shengelia, was his wife's brother, in 2019.

"Murusidze is a qualified and conscientious judge and person", - Paata Silagadze 2019.

"The people and the government are called to violence against the judges!!! The situation has reached a dangerous level! Once again, please do not be a passive spectator of this lawlessness!!! ", - Sergo Metopishvili on the civil sector, 2019.

"Mr. Shalva is sincere in his answers, so don't get dip into the terms, words."- Dimitri Gvritishvili during the interview procedure of Shalva Tadumadze, a candidate for the post of Supreme Court judge, 2019.

"I think that the court should apply appropriate measures against such behavior, which is provided by the procedural legislation!" Yes! including fines!!!", -Sergo Metopishvili on lawyers who were supporters of the campaign "Get rid of Levan Murusidze", 2019.

"Mr. Irakli Shengelia and I had a common ancestor", - After Tamar Ghvamichava was elected as a member of the Supreme Council of Justice, while Irakli Shengelia was exercising the powers of a member of the Supreme Council of Justice, in 2020.

2021 - 2023 years

In 2021 - 2023, the rhetoric of judges in various positions became sharply aggressive; It should be noted that in the statements of the representatives of the judiciary, the anti-Western narrative gradually became stronger. The role of Levan Murusidze remained unchanged who was elected as a council member for the second time in October 2022.

"I am proud that I have a relationship with Levan Murusidze - Levan Murusidze was the first to receive all attacks and these circumstances made him a leader", - Revaz Nadaraya, 2021.

"The actions of the representatives of the strategic partner countries do not correspond to the principles of relations with the democratic, legal and sovereign state." Dimitri Gvritishvili, after Georgia's international partners called on the Parliament to suspend the appointment of members of the Supreme Council of Justice and judges of the Supreme Court until the relevant reforms are carried out, 2021.

"Consider that judicial authorities is going into attack mode,"- Dimitri Gvritishvili in relation to the civil sector, after being elected as a member of the Supreme Council of Justice for the second term, 2022.

"Irresponsible, impolite, Legion is their name." - Levan Murusidze on NGOs, after being elected as a member of the Supreme Council of Justice for the second term, 2022.

"If the international partners have perceptions, let them come to the Council.They are ignoring the Supreme Council of Justice and they completely ignore it,"-- Levan Murusidze on criticism of the judiciary by international partners, 2022.

"Where is the clan? In the court or in the non-governmental sector?", - Dimitri Gvritishvili, 2022.

"There is a danger that the independence of the judicial authority will be destroyed. The Government of Georgia is responsible for protecting the state sovereignty", - Dimitri Gvritishvili regarding the public sanctioning of 4 judges by the US State Department, 2023.

"Taking into account the fact that in the USA it is considered one of the main democratic achievements of the last period and it has been tested to change the sex of a child from the age of 6, I have nothing to do with it", - Irakli Shengelia after the US State Department released information about his sanctions, 2023.

"I don't think they're going to stop there, sometimes, I think they might even go as far as killing themselves - the US embassy has been trying to covert up for years to take over the judicial power", - Levan Murusidze after the American State Department released information about his sanction, 2023.

"I want to express my full support to my colleagues, Mr. Levan, Mr. Mikheil, Mr. Irakli. I can honestly say that something completely unheard of and indescribable happened.My colleague, Mr. Badri Shonia, stated that this does not fit not only in the American standard, but also in any standard.To accuse aperson groundlessly, judge and indict a person without any evidence is really unheard of."- Temur Gogokhia regarding the public sanctioning of 4 judges by the US State Department, 2023.

"I have neither been a chicken, nor a coward, Damn Life has made me experience animosity many times, it has found faults in me, now I am walking with eyes clouded over, I don't feel so bad." -Levan Murusidze after the American State Department released information about his sanction, 2023.
For the last 10 years, the statements of the representatives of the court system confirm that corporatism is an acute problem in the judicial authority, which hinders the independence of the individual judge and introduction of fundamental innovations in the judiciary. 

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