Nominations to ombudsman's post moved in Georgia

Today, nominations to the post of ombudsman have been moved in the Georgian parliament. The parliament majority party "United National Movement for Flourishing Georgia" has nominated lawyer Georghi Tkhugushi, member of the European Committee against Violence who has been working in the ombudsman's office for five years.

The parliament opposition faction "Strong Georgia" has nominated lawyer Dimitre Lortkipanidze. "Christian Democrats", the other opposition faction, supports the same candidate.

Nobody nominated the incumbent ombudsman Sozar Subari. 

The name of the new ombudsman will become known on Thursday July 30 when the deputies vote on the issue.

In his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Petre Tsiskarishvili, leader of the faction "United National Movement", has explained the choice of his party by the fact that Georghi Tkhugushi is a highly educated and qualified lawyer and has been working in the ombudsman's office for five years, so he knows the specifics of the work.

The supporters of Dimitre Lortkipanidze stress the same qualities of their candidate. "He is a lawyer, well respected, and we think that it is enough for being nominated to the post", said Paata Davitaya, chair of the party "Ourselves" and minority faction deputy, to Georgian media.

According to Zviad Koridze, journalist and independent expert, "Sozar Subari has now become a conflicting figure. The authorities would not support his nomination and the parliament majority would surely vote against him".

Note that the parliament majority has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with regard to the activity of Sozar Subari as ombudsman. The discord between the government and the ombudsman especially aggravated when opposition became active.

When assessing the activity of Sozar Subari, Petre Tsiskarishvili, leader of the parliament majority, said that Subari had done great and fruitful work. "However, in recent time, he behaved more like a politician than a neutral person which an ombudsman must be", noted the deputy.

In one of his interviews, Sozar Subari himself claims that his main achievement is that he has managed to stop the practice of applying torture in the law enforcement bodies. Many politicians agree that Sozar Subari has done a lot in this area.