Ruling party official criticises former US Ambassador Kelly Degnan for her role in imposing restrictions on several domestic judges
Mamuka Mdinaradze
Photo: Georgian Dream
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament, on Tuesday said he was strongly criticising Kelly Degnan, the former United States Ambassador to Georgia, for not contributing to lifting sanctions imposed by the United States on several Georgian judges.
Mdinaradze’s comments followed after the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday declined to consider the claim of Nika Gvaramia, the founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi channel, regarding his earlier conviction for improper commercial deals in 2015 and 2019 during his time at the helm of the Rustavi 2 TV.
In 2022 the judge Lasha Chkhikvadze sentenced Gvaramia to 3.5 years for abuse of power over his managerial decisions when he ran Rustavi 2 TV. Chkhikvadze was later removed from the list of participants of the American training program and, accordingly, from the list of judges to travel to the United States.
In his remarks, Mdinaradze noted the former US Ambassador had other motivations and highlighted the absolutely different attitude of Robin Dunnigan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia, towards this matter.
“I strongly criticise the previous [US] Ambassador [Degnan] and I also point out very frankly that we really do not have similar questions regarding the current [US] Ambassador [Dunnigan], because her attitude [to this matter] is absolutely different”, Mdinaradze said.
Mdinaradze noted that imposing sanctions on Georgian judges had given rise to other groundless accusations, including the campaign to discredit the Georgian judiciary.
“Therefore, sanctions should be lifted from both the judge Chkhikvadze and other [domestic judges]”, Mdinaradze added.
Anri Okhanashvili, the Chair of the Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee, on Monday called for a review of the restrictions imposed on some Georgian judges by the United States, emphasising the need for corrective measures in light of their compliance with national law, as confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights.
Lasha Chkhikvadze, a judge of the Tbilisi City Court, on Monday said Kelly Degnan, the former United States Ambassador to the country, had treated him very “wrongly and unfairly”.
Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker Archil Talakvadze on Tuesday said lifting the restrictions imposed on several Georgian judges by the United States remained a “legitimate” demand.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the Georgian public was waiting for the answer from the United States to explain whether the imposition of restrictions on several Georgian judges was a mistake by the former US Ambassador Kelly Degnan or deliberate misrepresentation by the Embassy-sponsored NGOs.
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