Ombudsman: I will send my opinion to the Constitutional Court — this document will be in favor of neither the ruling party nor the opposition, it will be a list of international standards
"I, of course, will send my opinion to the Constitutional Court — the document I send to the court will be in favor of neither the ruling party nor the opposition; it will be a list of international standards," Public Defender Levan Ioseliani stated on PalitraNews' program 360 Degrees while talking about the lawsuit regarding the banning of parties in the Constitutional Court.
According to Levan Ioseliani, his opinion is based on precedents of the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights and general principles of law.
"The document I am sending to the court is called an amicus curiae (friend of the court) opinion. This is a friend of the court opinion, meaning it assists the court in making a decision. As a rule, this document is neutral; it is not written in favor of either party.
In this case as well, the document I send to the court will not be a document in favor of either the ruling party or the opposition. It will be a list of international standards, references to cases that the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights has reviewed and which concerned similar issues—issues of party bans. Accordingly, I think this will provide a certain amount of assistance to the court, although I am confident that all the issues I write about in the opinion are already known to them anyway. I am following the hearings and see that the court is not uninformed about these issues I am speaking about. However, the debates between the parties are mainly of a political nature, an assessment of which I cannot enter into. Very often, the judge tries to steer the parties back into the channel of legal reasoning, which is important for clarifying this issue. Such a process is being held for the first time in Georgia's recent history; accordingly, whatever decision is reached, it will also reflect on our political life in the future. We will all follow it, and I, of course, will send my opinion to the court. There is still time for this, so I have no time restriction.
It is important to me that the court accepts this document and reads it carefully—that is my task, and beyond that, I have no other task given that this is entirely a matter of political debate. As a neutral person and neutral evaluator detached from this process, I do not evaluate the political process at all, and as a neutral evaluator on legal matters, I will contribute my part to this.
My opinion is based on precedents that the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights has considered. Along with these precedents, taking into account the principles of international law and general principles of law, the correct decision will be made. I think the decision will be such. It is difficult for me to say in advance what this decision will be, despite many predictions being made. I cannot and will not enter into this speculation, but I am confident that the decision will be interesting," Levan Ioseliani stated.
