The State Department has placed four Georgian judges on a visa blacklist, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, accusing them of “significant corruption.”
Blinken said in a statement that Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze “abused their positions as court Chairmen and members of Georgia’s High Council of Justice, undermining the rule of law and the public’s faith in Georgia’s judicial system.”
“The United States will continue to stand with all Georgians in support of democracy and the rule of law, and will promote accountability for those who abuse public power for personal gain,” the US said. “We support all judges who have the courage and integrity to act impartially and independently,” Blinken added.
The four judges in question have served on the bench since the presidency of Mikhail Saakashvili, a US-backed revolutionary who was deposed by the current government in 2012.
According to the Interfax news agency, Murusidze, who holds a lifetime appointment on the Georgian Court of Appeals, called Blinken’s announcement a “attempt to subordinate the Georgian courts and Georgian justice system to the US.”
The announcement was also condemned as an infringement on Georgia’s sovereignty by Irakly Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling Georgia Dream party.
“The United States does not consider us to be a country,” Kobakhidze told the local TV channel Imedi. He vowed to defend Georgian interests at all costs and to “show everyone we’re an independent state,” promising not to let the country’s justice system be “harmed by any unjust actions.”
However, the ruling party has yet to consider a response to the US sanctions.
Last month, Tbilisi was rocked by a week-long riot over a proposed law on foreign agent registration, which the US embassy condemned as a threat to democracy. The State Department threatened Georgia with sanctions if the proposal was approved, and thousands of opposition activists besieged parliament for days until lawmakers were intimidated into withdrawing the bill.
