U.S. Embassy Provides Recommendations to Georgian Parliament on Judicial Reform

The US Embassy makes recommendations to the Georgian Parliament in connection with judicial reform. According to the document, the recommendations will help the parliament in the process of developing legislative changes through which the transparency, efficiency and accountability of the judiciary will be improved.

“These recommendations are detailed but not comprehensive. We are aware that there are other issues that need further improvement. We hope that these recommendations will help parliament and other actors in the justice system to take steps towards consensus.

We also hope that the recommendations will help the parliament in the process of developing legislative changes, through which the transparency, efficiency and accountability of the judiciary will improve, as well as increase the credibility of this institution.

The US stands ready to support the efforts of the parliament and the Georgian people to create a stronger, more independent court.

Full implementation by Georgia of the commitments made at the Summit for Democracy: it is necessary to improve the selection and appointment of judges of first and second instance according to their merits, as well as to ensure the transparency of this process.

Gender equality: More than 50% of judges in Georgia are women. Accordingly, the gender balance in the judicial system is observed. However, the number of administrative/key positions held by female judges does not reflect the existing gender balance. We recommend introducing certain safeguards to ensure a balanced appointment of both sexes to key positions in the judiciary.

Expansion of grounds for the use of jurors: We continue to recommend expanding the institution of jurors to allow the use of juries in criminal and civil cases of high public interest, such as corruption offenses, abuse of office, and civil/property disputes.

Increasing the transparency of the process of selection and appointment of judges: the extent to which each individual candidate satisfies the established qualification requirements, such as a legal education, must be strictly assessed.

Appointment of non-judicial member of the High Council of Justice – Parliament/President: Parliament must fulfill its obligations and appoint non-judicial members of the High Council of Justice in accordance with the law and international best practice.

Election of members of the High Council of Justice – conference of judges: the existing procedure for the election of judges-members of the High Council of Justice should be changed by legislative means.

Specialization of judges: specialization and subspecialization for all courts to be defined in the organic law on general courts.

Supreme Court

Indefinite Election of Incumbent Justices of the Supreme Court for a Fixed Term: In order to retain qualified and experienced justices on the Supreme Court, it is recommended that judges appointed for a fixed term be elected indefinitely.

Appointments to the Constitutional Court: Parliament, President and Court should standardize the process of appointing judges to the Constitutional Court.

Judge appointments: The law needs to be amended to ensure open voting, justification of appointments and an increase in the number of votes required for the appointment of judges.

Random distribution of cases: Legislative changes are needed to exhaustively reflect those exceptional cases when the electronic distribution of cases cannot be carried out. This will reduce the risks of interfering with the case allocation process. All those cases where the case is not considered on a random basis should be published and explained.

Board structure of the High School of Justice: Legislative changes are needed to reduce the influence of the High Council of Justice on the process of electing members of the independent council of the High School of Justice,” reads, in particular, the recommendations of the US Embassy in Georgia.