Sanctioning judges without evidence is a gross violation of the Constitution, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, stated on Friday.

Kobakhidze was asked about the US ambassador Kelly Degnan’s statement, where she noted: “Sanctions are a very powerful tool. And you saw, for instance, with the visa designations against the four corrupt judges. They were standing in the way of Georgia’s democratic development, standing in the way of Georgia developing a truly independent, impartial judiciary.”

Kobakhidze answered: “This situation represents a clear violation of innocence presumption. Despite their claims, no evidence was presented to support the sanction. It was said their decision was based on some information they read in the newspaper. This is incredible.

In Georgia, we have a strict organic law that regulates disciplinary proceedings and establishes stringent standards for sanctioning judges. When a Georgian judge is sanctioned by a foreign country without evidence, it directly undermines the principle of judicial independence. We have already responded to this issue, and we will continue in the future.

The unjust sanctioning of judges without evidence is a grave violation of judicial independence and our constitution. Such actions should not be tolerated by anyone. We do not allow ourselves to do this, and we must not allow a return to the methods employed before 2012 when the United National Movement used similar tactics of punishing judges without evidence. Now, from outside the country, it is fundamentally unacceptable, and we will have a very strict reaction to this in the future.”