This is a dangerous precedent that shows the court’s attempt to let external constitutional bodies control who is appointed to Supreme Council of Justice and who is not. This is how the Chairman of Commission for selecting candidates for membership of the Supreme Council of Justice, Guram Imnadze, assessed the decision of the Tbilisi City Court.

“We believe that with the said decision, the judge grossly violated the principle of separation of powers guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia and invaded the exclusive authority of the President of Georgia, guaranteed by Article 52 of the Constitution, to independently select and appoint one non-judge member of the Supreme Council of Justice.

With the mentioned decision, the judge also ignored the provision of the General Administrative Code of Georgia, which does not extend the effect of the General Administrative Code to the activities of the President.

We believe that the said decision does not serve the rule of law and public interest, and in this way, the court is trying to rudely interfere with the exclusive authority of the independent constitutional body, the President.

This decision is particularly dangerous in light of the fact that in this way the court has, in fact, arbitrarily equipped itself to control who can be appointed by the president as a member of the Supreme Council of Justice and who cannot.

It is also significant that the judge extended the general two-month period for the case review to five months by the same ruling, which further prolongs the effect of the said decision and raises the risks of paralyzing the President as an independent constitutional body.

The mentioned decision is a dangerous and damaging precedent, which contradicts the legislation of Georgia and which damages the accountability and openness of the Supreme Council of Justice.

This decision harms not only the institution of the president and its effectiveness, but also the already deficient trust in the justice system as a whole, is further damaged and reduced”, - said Guram Imnadze.

According to the decision of the Tbilisi City Court, the decree of the President of Georgia on July 15, 2024 on the appointment of Kakha Tsikarishvili as a member of the Supreme Council of Justice was suspended.