Social Justice Center, with the support of the European Union, presented the 2022-2023 Assessment Reports on the Systems of Electronic Distribution of Cases in Courts and Disciplinary Liability of Judges

Social justice Center presented its fourth assessment reports on the Electronic Distribution of Cases in Courts and the System of Disciplinary Liability of Judges and hosted the discussion on this topics. These reports address relevant legislative amendments in the Organic Law “Common Courts” and normative decisions of the High Council of Justice implemented in 2022 and 2023 as well as current practices and statistical information. 

Identifying and addressing systemic shortcomings in electronic case distribution system and the disciplinary proceedings of judges is part of the nine steps attached to Georgia’s EU candidate status. Consequently, continuous monitoring of these issues and regular information-sharing with the public, judiciary, and professional circles is particularly important.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Nicholas Cendrowicz, Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation to Georgia, emphasised that “A transparent, accountable and fair justice system is a corner stone of any democracy. Implementing a holistic judicial reform is one of the nine steps set out in the Commission’s recommendation for Georgia and a non-negotiable element of the EU enlargement process. We hope that the findings of the reports presented today will continue to inform this much needed process, as they highlight the crucial role that civil society plays in the reforms that are needed to bring Georgia to the EU”.

In the panel discussion that followed, Ana Papuashvili, a representative of Social Justice Center, presented the key findings of the assessment reports:

• The standards for access to public information in common courts have significantly deteriorated; the High Council of Justice is not providing public information and has ceased publishing a significant portion of its decisions since June 2023;
• The refinement of the electronic case distribution system is no longer a priority for the High Council of Justice and the Parliament; the incomplete regulation of the system, excessive influence of court chairpersons on the case distribution process, and numerous exceptions to the principle of random case distribution pose risks to the independence and impartiality of individual judges;
• Judges in administrative positions continue to enjoy significant privileges regarding their workloads, while the workloads of other judges have increased by up to 300% in some cases;
• The system of disciplinary liability of judges has only seen minor, insignificant improvements from 2022 to 2023; however, the detrimental practice of unjustified and premature changes in personnel continues, grossly violating the principle of judicial accountability;
• For the first time since 2018, the annual report of the Independent Inspector’s Office has not yet been published in 2024.

Nino Bakakuri, a judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia, covered the functioning of electronic case distribution and the disciplinary liability systems, highlighting problematic aspects of these systems and how they work in practice. Maia Bakradze, a representative of a Group of Independent Lawyers, reviewed the organisational and practical reasons behind the overload of judges in common courts and proposed solutions, including aligning the present legislation with the relevant international standards, changing the procedural time-limits, elaborating evidence-based and comprehensive policy, based on research conducted by the group last year on this issue.

The presentation of the reports and the discussion were held with the support of the European Union, as part of the project “Promoting greater civic awareness and engagement in judicial reforms and facilitating increased access to justice through holistic multi-agency action”, implemented jointly by Social Justice Center, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, and Studio Monitor. The project aims to promote accessibility, independence, transparency, impartiality, and accountability within the judicial system, including through judicial reforms.

For more information, please contact:
Anastasia Raiki, Communications Manager of Social Justice Center
Email: anastasia.raiki@socialjustice.org.ge 
Phone: +995 597 11 44 72