Chairman of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, Levan Khabeishvili said that when the US Department of State speaks about clans in the Georgian judiciary but the sanctioned judges continue holding their positions, there is nothing left to investigate further.

According to Khabeishvili, the US Department of State would not make sanctioning decision without proof and evidence.

“There are no questions regarding judges. The State Department wrote in black on white and the Ambassador brough more clarity to the situation in the court system speaking about bribe-taking, nepotism, menacing and politically motivated cases.

I am sure that without substantial evidence, this decision would not have been made. Over the years, political parties and civil society, both from outside the country and our partners have been talking about judicial clans, nepotism and corruption in Georgia. There is a lot of evidence for this,” Khabeishvili said.

On 5 April, U.S. State Department sanctioned four judges: Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze, for their involvement in corruption.