Any judge who will be under attack will be provided by proper protection from authorities. Such a statement made today the Chairman of the Georgian Dream.

“The radical opposition has accused the US Embassy of discrimination, violation of the independence of the judiciary and attempted informal governance.

I won’t go further into the fact that the relevant action is a crime under Article 364, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Accusing American diplomats of criminal offense is an extremely irresponsible act.

Imagine for a second if the High Council of Justice did the same thing - to summon any judge, due to a controversial decision, remove him/her from any seminar or conference without a legal basis. I can imagine how much agitation would be created by the same subjects due to exactly the same fact. They have no facts and the judges are called "clans". Can you imagine if they had even one such fact, then what would they do?

I want to ask the UNM and its internal and external speakers, it is clear that they are very far from the values ​​of Thomas Jefferson, but you must have heard the name of this man.

How diplomats were allowed to do such a thing from the country of Thomas Jefferson. Naturally, the US Embassy has never acted in accordance with the methods of the UNM - discrimination against judges, interference with the independence of the judiciary and attempts at informal governance. I deeply believe in this.

If anyone really had taken liberties to cancel the visit for the judge, I am sure it would, on the contrary, have the opposite effect and the visit would be canceled by other judges as well. Georgia is well aware of the price of dignity and collegiality and I am sure that against the background of discrimination against a fellow judge, no other judge would go to US.

Unfortunately, in 2017-2019, we did not protect judge Tamaz Urtmelidze, as well as the other 12 judges hearing the case of Rustavi 2 from the bullying of [Nika] Gvaramia and UNM. Finally, Urtmelidze had to be protected by Strasbourg court. This should not be allowed a second time - any judge who becomes the object of an attack will be provided with adequate protection and support.

Finally, I would like to make a request to the US Embassy. I understand that even answering this question in the negative creates embarrassment. It would even be embarrassing for the US Embassy to say that it did not commit a crime, did not discriminate, did not interfere with the independence of the Georgian judiciary, and did not attempt informal governance. However, the speculation continues and one small statement from the US Embassy would easily end these speculations.

If the Embassy does not issue a relevant statement, which will be completely understandable to us”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.