The Constitutional Court of Georgia is holding an oral hearing in the impeachment case of Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili.

The impeachment procedure was initiated based on an alleged breach of the Constitution (Article 52, Point 1, Subpoint A) for visiting European Union nations and holding talks with government officials without the government’s approval.

Maia Kopaleishvili, a former Constitutional Court judge, and Tamar Chugoshvili, an ex-First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, represented the president in the impeachment proceedings before the Constitutional Court. Salome Zourabichvili did not show up for the hearing.

The Constitutional Court Chair, Merab Turava, addressed the president’s representative, Tamar Chugoshvili, expressing surprise that the president’s parliamentary secretary was present in the courtroom rather than the president accompanied by lawyers.

Chugoshvili explained that the president’s representatives had “full trust” in defending her interests, that they acted under the law, and that this did not imply “disrespect of the court” on Salome Zourabichvili’s behalf.

Merab Turava went on to say that if the court felt that the President’s spokespeople failed to clearly convey the president’s messages, it might order the “compulsory presence of the president.”

In connection with the action in court, Maia Kopaleishvili stated that Article 49, Point 3, permitted the President to represent Georgia in foreign affairs and that “nobody had the right to deprive her of that authority.”

“The President of Georgia is no one’s prisoner, among them the Georgian government, to be confined within Georgia’s borders,” she said.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and one of the impeachment proceeding petitioners, Article 52 of the Constitution of Georgia defines the President’s power in international affairs.

“This article states that the president is empowered to hold negotiations only with the consent of the government,” he said.

Kobakhidze stated that the President sought consent but did not get it, thus violating the Constitution.

The ruling Georgian Dream party decided to impeach President Salome Zourabichvili for violating the Constitution by visiting European Union nations without permission from the government.

The Constitutional Court Plenum will hear the application of 80 legislators, including Georgian Dream Chair Irakli Kobakhidze and Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.