PM Kobakhidze: Read the lawsuit, and then the ruling, before commenting; general statements are “gross interference”

“Everyone should kindly read the lawsuit, and if they see anything contrived in it, comment on that. Even more importantly, they should then read the Constitutional Court’s ruling, whatever it says, and comment on its substance,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said at a briefing at the Government Administration.

The Prime Minister stated that everyone must respect the independence of the judiciary, adding that if anyone identifies legal inaccuracies or flawed reasoning within the ruling, they are free to comment on them using objective legal arguments.

“Everyone must refrain from interfering in the independence of the judiciary. Nothing else interests us. What interests us is the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, and we will be as vigilant as possible on that front. When a case is under way, making statements about it in this particular context is clearly interference. It is a legal process; the court is considering all of this, and when it comes to justice, everyone must refrain from any premature comment. Once the ruling is published, everyone can read it, whatever its form and whatever it says, and then kindly comment. But even then, they should comment on what the ruling actually says, not in general terms. Everyone should respect the independence of the judiciary when a legal matter is before the court, and read the substance. Nobody is talking about the lawsuit. Perhaps they haven’t read it and don’t know what it says. They aren’t talking about the lawsuit; they’re making general statements. And general statements are blatant, gross political interference in the independence of the judiciary.

In human rights law, there are two terms: restricting a right and violating a right. Restricting a right can be anything. When someone kills a person, and you arrest them, you are restricting their fundamental right to liberty. What matters is that the right must not be violated. The banning of a political party inevitably restricts a specific fundamental right, yet such a restriction can be legally justified. If the restriction is justified, the Constitution is upheld. This is in the textbooks; it’s how human rights are taught in the first year of university, in Georgia and abroad.

The applications were about recusing judges. The United National Movement’s representative was so completely out of their depth that they thought that Mikheil Kavelashvili appointed Tevdorashvili, when Salome Zourabichvili actually chose him. To make matters worse, Zourabichvili appointed him when they actually viewed her as ‘legitimate’. According to them, she wasn’t legitimate; then she was, and it was during that legitimate phase that she appointed Tevdorashvili. Even here, it just goes to show how unprofessional and utterly unprepared these people are,” said the Prime Minister.