No Disciplinary Liabilities for Judges for Having Breached a Law and Constitution

If a judge breaches a law, including the Constitution of Georgia, no disciplinary liability will be imposed on him/her. Besides that, the judge will not be punished for the violation of labor discipline either.

The amendments are drafted for the Law of Georgia on disciplinary proceedings and disciplinary liability of judges of the courts of general jurisdiction of Georgia.”

Before, disciplinary violation of the judge was “blatant violation of the law by a judge when executing its judiciary responsibilities. According to the law, the blatant violation was breaching Constitution of Georgia, International Agreements and Covenants of Georgia, imperative requirements of the Georgian law that caused essential damage or could damage a process participant, legal rights and interests or public interests of the third person.

According to the initiated draft-amendments, the abovementioned provision will be removed from the law.

Consequently, if the draft-law is passed the judge will not be punished for breaching the constitution or other laws.

Besides that, the judge will not violation discipline if he/she breaches the labor discipline.

The disciplinary violations of the judge will be corruptive offence and abuse of power which damages judiciary and professional interests. Corruptive offense is violation of the Law of Georgia about Interest Conflict and Corruption at the Public Agency if it does not result into criminal or administrative liability of the offender, as well as activities incompliant with the judge’s position or responsibilities; inadequate activities of the judge which disgrace the honor of judiciary system and undergrounds the general trust to the court; ungrounded red taping of case discussions; unperformed or badly performed responsibilities by the judge; divulgence of professional secrets or information shared during sessions; interference in the activities of disciplinary agency or disrespecting this agency and violation of ethic norms of the judiciary.

The draft-law was initiated by the MPs Pavle Kublashvili, Kakha Anjaparidze and Zviad Kukava.

News Agency “Pirveli”