Kopaleishvili: Lawsuit to Ban Parties Fails to Meet Evidentiary Standard

Maia Kopaleishvili, a former judge of the Constitutional Court and a member of the "Coalition for Change," assessed the lawsuit seeking to ban political parties. On the "360 Degrees" program on Palitranews, she said that the lawsuit does not meet the evidentiary standard and that the Constitutional Court should have returned it for correction.

According to Kopaleishvili, "Georgian Dream" was waiting for the terms of two judges to expire. Right after the new judges took their oath, the lawsuit was handed to the plenum on the same day by a panel of judges who, in principle, should not be well acquainted with the case. In her words, all of this was planned in advance.

According to her version, the ruling party feared that Tughushi, Kverenchkhiladze and Manana Kobakhidze, and, as they say, a fourth judge as well (there are eight judges in total), would go against the lawsuit. If votes were split, the lawsuit would not be granted. Kopaleishvili said that they have now brought in the personnel they wanted.

Kopaleishvili stated: "The lawsuit is unsubstantiated, and what they accuse political parties of is what they themselves violate. They accuse others of violating democracy and cite the third article of the constitution as an example, while at every step they themselves carry out actions against democracy. What is written in this lawsuit requires reinforcement with evidence, an evidentiary standard. When you read the lawsuit, it does not meet the evidentiary standard, it is presented at the level of gossip."

In her explanation, before accepting the lawsuit for proceedings, the court was obliged to return it for correction and require the plaintiff to meet the evidentiary standard for each party on each charge. Kopaleishvili said that in the descriptive part of the protocol record accepting the lawsuit for proceedings and scheduling the substantive hearing, the court repeats the rhetoric of "Georgian Dream" word for word.

According to her, the plaintiff refers to the conclusion of a parliamentary commission as evidence. This commission, however, was created and formed by a biased commission of "Georgian Dream," was led by Tea Tsulukiani, and its composition included members of "Georgian Dream." In Kopaleishvili's assessment, therefore this conclusion also fails to meet the evidentiary standard.

Kopaleishvili added that all political parties should stand together. In her words, the issue is solidarity for the interests of the country, and not toward any particular party named in the lawsuit.