Supreme Court of Georgia

Statement issued by the Supreme Court of Georgia

Published: 10/22/2012

On October 19, 2012, the Chairman of Tetritskaro District Court, Mr. Bessarion Bugianishvili issued an order concerning the breach of “Procedure of Communication with the Judges of Common Courts”.

The order was based on the written notification of Judge Spartak Pavliashvili, where the judge considered, that there was a violation of “Communication Rules before the Common Court Judges”. According to the judge statement, on October 5, 2012, at 8.00 a.m., an unknown person visited his house and introduced himself as Mikheil Chomakhashvili and initiated a conversation about the administrative case, examination of which would started at 10.00 a.m. on that day. The matter of dispute was annulment of ordinance of district election commission. The claimant of the case was political party “United National Movement” and the respondent was №26 Tetritskaro election district commission and the third party was Shalva Khachapuridze, majoritarian candidate of election bloc “Bidzina Ivanishvili – Georgian Dream”.

The Chairman of Tetritskaro District Court examined the written notification of judges, as well as, explanations of Mikheil Chomakhashvili, where he admitted, that the only reason why he contacted the judge was to rent the house, but not the discussion about the case in trial.

It is established, that Mikheil Chomakhashvili is the activist of coalition “Bidzina Ivanishvili – Georgian Dream” and accordingly is the interested person of the outcome of the relevant case. The court did not accept Mikheil Chomakhashvili’s statement that he visited the judge’s house at 8.00 a.m. to discuss the details about the house rent, moreover, this visit was before the administrative case trial.

The court has examined all the evidences and the facts concerning the case and established the violation of the “Procedure of Communication with the Judges of Common Courts”. 

According to the order of the Chairman of Tetritskaro District Court, Mikheil Chomakhashvili was fined with 2000 GEL. 

Once again, the court calls on all the parties to comply with the law.
Any statements expressed with respect to the judiciary, which include the signs of intimidation and blackmail, will be assessed as the obstruction of the implementation of the Judicial powers and as the interfering in the activities of a judge.

Our will is the cooperation and not confrontation, we hope that a strong civil society will acknowledge importance of the independence of the judiciary from the political process, and we all together will facilitate further strengthening of the judicial system.