According to Lelo party’s David Usupashvili, the Georgian Dream not allowing the opposition to establish an investigative commission that would oversee corruption in court is an unprecedented abuse of administrative power. Opposition MPs will file a lawsuit against the parliament in the Constitutional Court.
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By various illegal means and acceptable practices, you did not let 50 parliament members, who have a Constitution right to decide on the creation of the commission of their own volition, enact our rightful will in a civilized manner by majority rule.
Therefore, dear chairperson of the parliament, we present the signatures of 50 parliament members, by which we confirm our will and intention to create an investigative commission provided by Article 42 of the constitution, which requires but one thing – the support of 1/3 of the parliament. What the rest of you think is beyond the concern of the Constitution.
Expressing our will, we appeal to you to continue the procedures necessary for the functioning of the commission. If this proves not enough, we will see you in the Constitutional Court and then, in the investigative commission which will inevitably be established if not in this, then in the next parliament to, among other matters, investigate the events of these last days in the parliament. Not only did you discard our initiative from the agenda, but you also discarded the Constitution. This cannot be forgiven.
This previous government was given a pass on this in 2012, when they did not create such a commission, because, there too, some people intervened with the process, namely, the then Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Justice, and the chief prosecutor’s deputy. They didn’t let us create an investigative commission to police matters within the judiciary and law enforcement structure. The same is happening now,” stated Usupashvili at the plenary session of the parliament.
The opposition deputies registered the draft resolution on creating a temporary investigative commission to look into the corruption and other unlawful acts within the judiciary system in December 2022. The matter of establishing the commission found renewed focus after the US Department of State imposed sanctions on April 5, 2023, on three sitting and one former judge – Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, Valerian Tsertsvadze, and their families for their involvement in corruption.
“The State Department determined based on reliable information that said persons were involved in major corruption through abuse of power. Through their actions, they disregarded the integrity of the judiciary. They were offering illegal benefits or pressuring judges into making favorable decisions that would further the cause of their political allies and manipulating the judge assignment process to achieve personal gains,” US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan explained.
The parliamentary opposition has been trying to vote on the draft resolution on the creation of the investigative commission since April 18. Deputies of Georgian Dream disrupted the voting three times by not checking in to the session as an act of solidarity with the judges and thus not fulfilling the quorum needed for voting. This issue was no longer even included in the agenda of the plenary sessions of the running week.
According to Article 42 of the Constitution of Georgia, temporary commissions can be created on the initiative of one-fifth (30 deputies) of MPs. The decision on the creation of a temporary commission is made by the Parliament according to the rules established by the regulations. The decision to create a temporary investigative commission can be made with the support of one-third of the full membership of the Parliament (50 deputies). Representatives of the opposition in the commission should make up at least half of the total number of commission members. It will be mandatory to appear before the investigative commission at their request, as well as to provide any documents and information necessary for the investigation at hand.
According to the regulations of the Parliament, half of the entire parliament needs to be in attendance for the plenary session to be authorized. Parliament has 150 members. The plenary session requires the presence of 76 deputies.
