Supreme Court of Georgia

Explanation of the Supreme Court of Georgia

Published: 12/15/2011

It is some days now, different media have been spreading some groundless accusations of the Supreme Court of Georgia for having passed an unfair decision on December 5, 2011 about the cassation filed against Merab Sioridze, a former director of a TV Company “Guria”.

The Supreme Court thinks it’s purposeful to spread the information concerning social questions based on legal arguments only.

On July 24, 2006, Kutaisi Court of Appeal made a default judgment around the case because of the appellants’ contumacy at the main court session. With its decision, the Court rejected Merab Sioridze’s appeal.

The default judgment of Kutaisi Court of Appeal was appealed by Merab Sioridze’s lawyer after 4 years claiming that Merab Sioradze had his residential address changed after the court decision was made and never received the court statement, and in addition, he was abroad until 2008.

Kutaisi Court of Appeal admitted the case for hearing and by virtue of ruling of February 11, 2010, cancelled its former default judgment.

The parties continued their dispute at the Supreme Court of Georgia, who cancelled the new decision and ruling to cancel the default decision passed by Kutaisi Court of Appeal and thus, reserved the default judgment of 2006 made by Kutaisi Court of Appeal on legal grounds in force.

The Supreme Court of Georgia in its decision explained that Merab Sioridze did not notify the court about changing his residential address, while under the procedural legislation, it was his obligation to do so. In case of such a failure of Sioridze, the court statement was considered to have been handed to the party and the court was obliged to make a default judgment.

Therefore, the decision of the Supreme Court of Georgia of December 5, 2011 meets the requirements of the procedural legislation of Georgia and is in line with the present practice.

Those concerned, can view the decision in full on the web-site of the Supreme Court of Georgia