The organization “Young Barristers” appeals to the High Council of Justice of Georgia to provide relevant  explanation of it’s decision, related to the  extension of  10 years judge’s  term  by  indefinite period of time after   for  5 judges of the Common Court System.

According to the statement of the chief executive of the  “Young Barristers”,  Archil Kaikatsishvili, in accordance with the monitoring results, on the basis of the  decisions,  made by   the Secretary of the High Council of  Justice of Georgia, Levan Murusudze, during 2013-2014 years, 10 years term of  judicial authority has been extended after it’s expiration  for 5 judges of  both -  Tbilisi City Court and Court of Appeals of Tbilisi, by  indefinite period of time.  The judges mentioned above are as follows : from Tbilisi City Court – Koba Gotsiridze,   Nino Oniani and  Zviad Esebua ; from the Court of Appeals of Tbilisi – Leila Mamulashvili and Nana Konakhidze. Among them was also Mikheil Bebiashvili, whose judge’s   authority was extended since  September 30, 2013  and  was dismissed from his position on the basis of the decision of the High Council of Justice of November 12, 2014 .  

According to the appraisal of the “Young Barristers’, extension of the judge’s term  after  it’s expiration  is not fair and objective activity on behalf of the High Council of Justice of Georgia . The situation indicates the tendency, when the institution of  reserve judges  remains inactive and  personal role of individual judges is increased. Operating law provides admissibility of the extension of the judge’s  terms , in case,  if for the moment of the term expiration , the court’s discussion on  the certain case is in progress. However, the study of the issue, has revealed that, judges with extended terms discuss  not only such cases, but also the new cases as well, that obviously and clearly contradicts the principle of the extension of the terms of  judge’s authority. As a result of such  attitude, the judge, whose term has been already expired , can carry on implementation of his/her duties in the system of justice for many years on, depended on the multiplicity  of the cases .    

The “Young Barristers” has studied the issue of  the judge’s  terms expiration ,  extension of this  terms and conditions of the proceedings  in progress for the moment under consideration of  above mentioned judges, and reflected the results of the study in the presented monitoring.   

1. Nino Oniani , the judge of Tbilisi City Court since May 3, 2005. 10 years judge’s term has been extended from July 5, 2015. For January 13, 2015 , 37 cases are under Nino Oniani’s consideration.
2. Koba Gotsiridze , the  judge of Tbilisi City Court since November 9, 2009. 10 years   judge’s term has been extended from July 5, 2013.  For January 13, 2015 ,  13 cases are under Koba Gotsiridze’s consideration.  
3. Zviad Esebua ,  the judge of Tbilisi City Court since June 15, 2007. 10 years judge’s  term  has been extended from December 23, 2013. For January 13, 2015 ,  59 cases are under  Zviad Esebua’s consideration.
4. Leila Mamulashvili , the  judge  of the Court of Appeals of Tbilisi since June 26, 2003. 10 years judge’s term  has been extended from July 22, 2013. For January 13, 2015 ,  4 cases are under Leila Mamulashvili’s consideration. The last case was passed to her for consideration in June 23, 2013.
5. Nana Kobakhidze, the judge of  the Court of Appeals of Tbilisi since  December 15, 2004. 10 years judge’s term  has been extended from  December 15, 2014. For January 13, 2015 , Nana Kobakhidze considers 62 cases , 10 cases of administrative violation  and 10 private complaints.  The last case has been passed to the judge in December 11, 2014.
6. Mikheil Bebiashvili, in spite of the fact, that he was dismissed from the position of the judge in November 12, 2014, yet,  he is one of those judges, whose 10 years term had been extended in September 30, 2013. The last case for consideration was transmitted to him in August 27, 2013.

The organization notes, that some decisions on the extension of the judge’s  terms have been made by the Secretary of the High Council of Justice of Georgia, Levan Murusidze, and the others – by the former Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Konstantine Kublashvili. The decisions define, that the terms of judge’s authority is extended until the delivery of judgments on the ongoing cases.