On April 4, it became known to us that the Tbilisi City Court suspended the process of monitoring the asset declarations of four judges. Among these judges are two – Mikheil Chinchaladze and Levan Murusidze - who were publicly designated by the US State Department due to “Involvement in Significant Corruption”.

On January 12, 2024, the Independent Commission, created by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, selected 300 officials, including 27 judges, whose asset declarations would be subject to monitoring in 2024. The Commission made this decision based on high public interest and an increased risk of corruption.

Among the selected officials were Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Sergo Metopishvili, and Vasil Mshvenieradze. These judges applied to the Tbilisi City Court and requested the court to recognize the decision of the Commission as void. The judges, Liela Poladashvili, Valeriane Pilishvili, Nino Buachidze, and Lela Mildenberger suspended the monitoring process of Chinchaladze, Murusidze, Metopishvili, and Mshvenieradze’s declarations. It should be noted that, among 300 political and professional public officials selected, only judges requested to suspend the process of monitoring their declarations.

The judges deliver their judgments on behalf of Georgia, and justice is one of the sectors vulnerable to corruption. At the same time, a number of publicly available information indicates the need to thoroughly study the incomes of Mikheil Chinchaladze and Levan Murusidze. (For example, see the journalistic investigation of Studio Monitor of August 6, 2022).

A judge with a high level of integrity should have no objections to the monitoring by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the information contained in their declarations. The suspension of the process of monitoring by the judges raises a reasonable doubt about the reliability of the information included in the declarations.

We call on the Anti-Corruption Bureau to publish the lawsuits filed by the judges, as well as all interim acts delivered by the court, and to provide the public with complete information regarding this fact that significantly damages the trust to the court.

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Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)

Georgian Young Lawyers' Association 

Transparency International Georgia