The government continues to sabotage the European integration process. As expected, instead of fulfilling the EU’s 12 recommendations to obtain candidate status, the Georgian Dream is strengthening the control over the judicial system.
Levan Murusidze and Mikheil Chinchaladze are the two key figures of the oligarchic state capture and captured judicial system in Georgia that largely enables political control, complicity, and intimidation. The system commonly referred to as “the clan” is simultaneously known as “the Murusidze–Chinchaladze clan.” It is thus unsurprising that Murusidze (as well as Chinchaladze) enjoys little trust in society and has a dishonest reputation. In response to the requirement of the European Union to free the court from political influence, two leaders of the judicial clan – Levan Murusidze and Dimitri Gvritishvili – were elected as judge members of the Supreme Council of Justice. In addition, 10 days after the announcement of the EU’s recommendations, Mikhel Chinchaladze was appointed for the second term as the Chairman of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal.
The election of Murusidze and Gvritishvili as members of the Supreme Council of Justice is another step in the oligarchic system to consolidate complete control over the justice system. This clearly expresses the attitude of the Georgian Dream towards state institutions, the democratic development of Georgia, the implementation of the twelve-point action plan of the European Commission, and the country’s European future.