A letter to the Prime Minister of Georgia on the 2016 Selection of Judicial Candidates for the European Court of Human Rights

Mr. Giorgi Kvirikashvili

Prime Minister of Georgia

Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

This letter addresses the process of selection of judicial candidates from Georgia for the European Court of Human Rights. 

As you are aware that the Government of Georgia Decree from December 14, 2015 established a governmental commission the purpose of which was to select judicial candidates from Georgia for the European Court of Human Rights and submit the short list of selected candidates to the Government of Georgia for consideration.

The Coalition has positively assessed the Government’s initiative to select judicial candidates for the European Court of Human Rights with the involvement of a Commission despite the absence of such a requirement in the law.   

The Coalition perceived this initiative as reflecting the Government’s willingness to carry out a merit-based selection process, which would be transparent and fair.  This is a precedent which has to be welcomed.

You probably also know that a representative of the Coalition took part in the work of the Governmental Commission created for the selection of judicial candidates for the European Court of Human Rights, in accordance with the above Decree. 

Our involvement in the work of the Commission has demonstrated that the assessments made by representatives of the Executive Government and the ruling party did not intend to evaluate candidates according to the requirements established in the Decree.  Instead, these assessments aimed to promote preliminarily selected candidates to the short list to be submitted to the Government.  This fact has defeated the purpose of the Commission and undermined the entire initiative.

This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that certain highly qualified candidates were not shortlisted while the candidates who received really low scores from representatives of nongovernmental entities (Public Defender, Chair of Georgia Bar Association, and the Coalition Chair) ended up on the short list.

The Coalition believes that it is important to provide information on these issues to you and the public.

In addition, the Coalition is willing to share views on the needs, flaws, and possible solutions to the problems associated with the competition procedure:

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