Maia Kopaleishvili once again petitioned to be allowed to return to the Constitutional Court hearing, but the judge rejected her request once again

Maia Kopaleishvili, a representative of the Coalition for Change, once again submitted a motion requesting permission to return to the Constitutional Court hearing.

Judge Revaz Nadaraia read aloud the grounds for the motion in the courtroom but once again rejected Kopaleishvili’s request.

“Maia Kopaleishvili, a representative of the political association Coalition for Change, submitted a motion through the court registry requesting permission to return to the hearing.

Constitutional proceedings and the court’s rules of procedure do not provide for a motion to be left unexamined. Otherwise, this motion would have been dismissed without consideration. Since I cannot leave it unexamined, the request is once again denied, given that this matter has already been decided. The court has already ruled on whether Ms. Kopaleishvili should be allowed to return.

When a party appoints a representative, and several representatives are present with their responsibilities distributed among them, it is understood that they are expected to protect the interests of those they represent. However, invoking this responsibility cannot serve as grounds for returning to the hearing, because the fact that a representative has duties and obligations to protect their clients’ interests does not give them the right to disrupt courtroom proceedings, show disrespect to the court, or insult it.

A party’s duties and responsibilities do not in any way entitle it to disrupt order. In the event of a breach of order, the court acts in accordance with the law.

Given that she seriously insulted the court, and considering that she is a former judge of the Constitutional Court, she should understand the significance of the words she addressed to the court. This makes her conduct even more serious, since she is a former judge and should know what it means to tell a judge that they acted on the instructions of the opposing party when making a particular decision.

Therefore, this motion is also denied and was not even subject to consideration,” Judge Nadaraia said.

For context, on October 11, Constitutional Court Chairman Revaz Nadaraya ordered the removal of Nika Gvaramia and Maia Kopaleishvili from the hearing. Their removal followed an argument and confrontation between the claimant and respondent parties.

Nika Gvaramia had told the claimant party that its conduct was inappropriate. Nadaraia subsequently ordered Gvaramia’s removal, a decision that Maia Kopaleishvili strongly criticized, telling the court that the decision to remove Gvaramia was made on the instructions of Georgian Dream and was a deliberate act. The court deemed Kopaleishvili’s remarks insulting and also ordered her removal from the courtroom.

Later that same day, following a motion, Revaz Nadaraia allowed Nika Gvaramia to return to the hearing, but rejected Maia Kopaleishvili’s request to do so.