Ambassador's meeting with High School of Justice and High

UNCLAS TBILISI 000932 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, EUR/RPM, AND DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM GG SUBJECT: Ambassador's meeting with High School of Justice and High Council of Justice ¶1. Summary: Ambassador met with representatives of the Georgian High School of Justice (HSOJ) and High Council of Justice to discuss the HSOJ's progress on meeting the legislatively imposed deadline for launching a fourteen-month training course for newly appointed judges. With less then the six months to go before the October deadline, the HSOJ has not yet finalized the curriculum nor retained the instructors. Ambassador Tefft stressed the critical nature of meeting the deadline for launching the mandatory course for the Georgian Government to demonstrate progress in the area of judicial reform to continue along the path to NATO membership. He also said the US government is willing to provide assistance in promoting judicial reform efforts. End Summary. ¶2. On April 20, Ambassador Tefft met with the Director of the HSOJ David Saakashvili, Deputy Director Shota Rukhadze and the Secretary of the High Council of Justice Valeri Tsertsvadze to discuss the legislatively imposed deadline for launching the training course for newly appointed judges. According to Rukhadze, the staff of the school is still elaborating the curriculum, including by reviewing different models from other countries such as Spain, France and Latvia. Because the concept of the HSOJ is based on Western European models (predominately the French system) the Council of Europe is providing assistance in the development of the curriculum. Rukhadze said the HSOJ asked the French for assistance, but he added that the Georgians expect their HSOJ curriculum to most closely resemble East European models. According to Saakashvili, the HSOJ will devote two meetings to the issue of establishing the curriculum. One will be held in Strasbourg and the broader one will be held in Tbilisi with the participation of donor countries. The HSOJ anticipates that a draft final curriculum will be shared with the donor community in late June. ¶3. However, even if the curriculum is established, the HSOJ has not yet identified or retained a sufficient number of qualified instructors. According to Saakashvili, though the Georgians are prepared to use judges as instructors, they recognize that most of the judges are overwhelmed by their workload and have no time to sufficiently prepare to lead the training. Tsertsvadze added that High Council of Justice is trying to simplify the procedures and legislation to assist judges. The Ambassador encouraged the representatives of the HSOJ to consider retaining international experts and/or hiring permanent staff to promote high quality instruction rather than simply relying on judges to provide the training. Saakashvili said he envisages using "permanent teaching staff" in the future and is even considering using the Western European model of seconded judges as trainers. ¶4. The representatives anticipate that the initial class at the HSOJ will consist of 25 judges. They pointed out, however, that this is not a sufficient number to fill the over 100 current vacancies in the courts. According to Tsertsvadze, during the last two years the High Council of Justice managed to appoint only 126-128 judges. In May, the High Council of Justice expects to conduct qualification exams and to appoint 20-25 more judges. In addition, after the training starts in the HSOJ, the new judges will be appointed as magistrate judges upon the completion of the theoretical part of the training, to provide them with practical experience and to fill critical vacancies. However, according to current plans, the fourteen-month course will not be conducted on a rolling basis. Therefore, there may be a gap in filling all vacancies in the judiciary since new judges must complete the fourteen-month training before taking the bench. The Ambassador once again stressed the critical nature of meeting the deadline for launching the course. ¶5. At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Tefft once again offered USG assistance in promoting judicial reform and for that purpose asked that the representatives keep the Embassy informed about developments and needs. Tefft