On 14-15 February the Council of Europe (CoE) organised a training session for the members and key staff of the Disciplinary Committee, the High Council of Justice, and the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court of Georgia with the purpose of tackling various issues related to the disciplinary proceedings against judges.

The CoE experts, Mr Duro Sessa, Justice of the Supreme Court of Republic of Croatia and Mr Engin Dürnagol, Judge at Ankara court house, delivered presentations on various aspects of the disciplinary proceedings against judges as per European standards and best practices. The topics discussed included the definition and types of misconduct or misbehaviour; the line between judicial misconduct and permissible judicial error; the goals of the disciplinary system and disciplinary measures; the application of the standards of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the disciplinary process; the burden of proof and the standard of proof in disciplinary proceedings; confidentiality v. publicity of disciplinary proceedings; the relationship between judicial discipline and judicial ethics. Furthermore, specific examples and case-studies of violations of judicial rules of conduct and ethical challenges were presented and discussed. Members of the Disciplinary Committee presented results of the judges’ opinion survey on case proceedings against judges of the common courts of Georgia and sought experts’ advice on disciplinary offences that could be added to the current list of violations.

The training session was organised in the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening the Independence and Efficiency of the Justice System in Georgia” funded by the Kingdom of Denmark.