“Hey Matthew, are you kidding my friend?” - In Georgia, trust in the judicial system is over 50%. In your country, America, there is only 25% trust. Such a statement made Irakli Zarkua, MP from the Georgian Dream, in response to the comment of the US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.

“Hey Matthew, are you kidding my friend? What are you talking about? Judges of the independent court of Georgia have been sanctioned, we are still waiting for the justification of the reasons. Let me remind you of another case. Judge Chkhikvadze, who was sanctioned because he made a decision regarding [Nika] Gvaramia, who stole several million from Rustavi 2.

The case was then appealed to Strasbourg, which said that it would not consider it at all, because Chkhikvadze’s decision was fair and objective. You and the embassy who bullied these judges and his family members should apologize.

What rule of law are you talking about? Among them, according to your surveys, Georgia is ahead of 7 EU states, including 11 NATO states, in terms of the rule of law. In Georgia, trust in the judicial system is more than 50%. In your country, only 25%. What are you talking about my friend? I am surprised.

I don’t know what arguments you are relying on. We have been waiting until today against the judges, on the basis of which you have presented arguments, maybe you are right. We will not accept the assessments sent by Captain Gigauri, because this person is herself a marginal and a suspect in the case of collapsing state institutions”, - said Zarkua.

Regarding the sanctioned Georgian judges, the US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, calls on “the authorities to take steps to hold corrupt actors accountable”.