I would like to introduce Kote Kublashvili as Chairman of the Supreme Court. We selected him after holding consultations with the Parliament speaker and the Legal Committee. We also asked Kote Kemularia for his advice on this issue. We select candidates on the basis of their patriotism, competency and honesty. Kote Kublashvili has all of these attributes. He defended his doctoral thesis on federalism at the age of 27 in Germany.

He has never been engaged in politics, which is very important. We have rooted out corruption in every government structure and people are satisfied with the reforms that have taken place in the police force, the prosecutor's office and in the state administration. But there still remains the most criticized government body, the Georgian court system.

The Georgian government is not going to interfere in the activities of the courts. I will punish anybody who illegally interferes in the activities of the courts. Every judge should remember that that they are not the law. There should be the rule of law, not man, in Georgia. Justice should not be for sale and we will ensure that it is so.

The courts will be free from other branches of the government, but they will be fully based on law.

We will present Kote Kublashvili's nomination to parliament next week and the parliament will approve him, I think.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia