According to the president of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Nino Kadagidze, the Georgian justice system is “completely free of corruption” and expects an apology from any person who “demonizes the judges.”
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“I have repeatedly made a statement regarding the sanctioning of three active and one former judge, and I will say it again, we do not have any evidence, and no matter who it comes from, we cannot accept any indication from anyone that there is corruption in Georgian justice. Georgian justice is completely free from corruption, and this is the biggest achievement of our country and justice system.
All those cases, around which there was uproar and based on which Georgian justice and Georgian judges were demonized, all these cases passed the highest legal control in the European Court. All these cases ended in favor of Georgia. Therefore, the judicial system, including me as an ordinary judge, will accept an apology from the society that started this wave, after that, there will be an answer to the question of whether the Georgian judge is 100% right.
I expect an apology from whoever this demonization came from. The United States Department will naturally not apologize, but we expect the appropriate evidence from the American Department, and if they believe that this information is true and based on appropriate evidence, then this evidence should be presented.
In 1937, our country passed justice based on vows and feelings. We are basing our judgment only on the evidence, and the evidence will become the basis of the responsibility not only of the judge but of any citizen of Georgia,” said Kadagidze.
The president of the Supreme Court called the journalists’ question of whether they are obliged to investigate the issue and not wait for the evidence to be presented “amateur”: “First the fact must be established and then the investigation should be conducted. How do you envision which case to start with? How many cases are heard in court throughout the year? This is an amateur question. Masses of society are influenced and it is an easy calculation to emotionally mobilize society against the court.”
According to Nino Kadagidze, “demonization” followed certain cases and was an attempt to bring politics to court. She stressed that until she is the chairman of the Supreme Court, "politics will not be allowed in the court".
On April 5, 2023, the United States State Department banned three current and one former Georgian judge - Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze - as well as their family members from entering the US due to their involvement in significant corrupt activities. According to the department, these persons abused their positions as court chairpersons and members of the Supreme Council of Justice, thereby harming the rule of law and the public's trust in the Georgian judicial system.
Chairman of the Administrative Affairs Chamber of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals, Irakli Shengelia, announced that he will appeal the decision of the State Department in the American court. Levan Murusidze says that he is not worried about the issue of sanctions because he is “100% right.”
