Statement of the Group of Independent Lawyers

On April 5, 2023, the US State Department imposed visa restrictions on three current and one former judge due to their involvement in substantial corrupt practices and abuse of office. Simultaneously, as part of the nine-step recommendations aimed at the European integration of Georgia, the European Union supported the introduction of an extraordinary mechanism for assessing the integrity check of justices who hold the lead positions in the court.

Nevertheless, the current government of Georgia frequently asserts that there is no reason to question the integrity check of judges and that they have not committed any corruption-related offenses. Moreover, in April 2023, the Georgian Dream hindered the process of setting up a parliamentary investigative commission to study corruption in the judicial system.

It is apparent that the ruling authorities are unwilling to investigate the indications of corruption in the court and examine the integrity of the judiciary, not because there are no valid reasons for the above but rather because they encourage and nurture corruption and clan dominance in the legal system.

Based only on information disseminated through the media and the cases that journalists have looked into, at least 22 cases show signs of corrupt deals or other violations of the legislation. Ten of the twenty-two instances that are described below have witnesses who publicly spoke concerning the facts of law violations within the judicial system. Among the violations of the law are as follows: influencing judges in their decision-making process and the indications of unsubstantiated enrichment of the judiciary. A particular group of judges holding prominent positions features in each case.

Each piece of information below contains the obvious signs of administrative offenses and the grounds for initiating criminal investigations and examining the judge's suitability for office.

Visit the link to view the statement