Supreme Court of Georgia

Presentation of Research for Judges

Published: 09/19/2018

On September 18, 2018 assessment report on the number of judges in Georgia was presented at hotel “Courtyard Marriott” by an expert of USAID/PROLOG, Jasper Wittrup. The event was organized with support of USAID, High Council of Justice, East-West Management Project “Promoting Rule of Law in Georgia” (PROLOG),  EU funded Judiciary Support Project - EU4Justice, and the Council of Europe project “Support to the Judicial Reform in Georgia” .

The meeting participants were addressed  by the Secretary of the High Council of Justice Giorgi Mikautadze, acting Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Mzia ToduaUSAID Georgia Democracy, Governance and Social Development Deputy Office Director,  Laura B. Berger and  a representative of the EU delegation to Georgia, Catalin Gherman.

The report analyzes reasons and advances possible solutions to reduce backlog at the common courts of Georgia. It infers that the current number of judges (around 310) is low, and an increase up to 410 -450 would be recommended.

The assessment employed a multi method approach incorporatingquantitative and qualitative analysis, such as focus group interviews and comparative analysis of judiciaries in European countries.

The acting chairperson if the Supreme Court of Georgia, Mzia Todua in her report mentioned the significance of impartiality, professional responsibility and formalism of judges in their activity. Independence for judges means  their ability to bear responsibility in the highly stressful and emotional environment. The judge is obliged to take into consideration opinion of his colleagues in the judge composition reviewing the case and then make the final decision. She also mentioned the need for high competence and qualification for judges for independence in their decision making process talking on the global scale.

The event was attended by the representatives of Judiciary, Government, NGOs, and Donor organizations.