On May 11, 2017, the High Council of Justice (HCOJ) appointed 64 judges. Of them, five judges (former judges of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts) were appointed for life, without a probation period. Unfortunately, some of the candidates participating in the selection closed their interviews to public. Among them was Mikheil Chinchaladze, towards whom public interest was especially high. Hence, it is unknown to the Coalition how the interview process went, however the Coalition plans to request and review the assessments of HCOJ members.

In parallel with turbulent countrywide public review of the recently elaborated constitutional amendments where besides other issues citizens claim from the authorities the right of self-government for their cities and villages, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure without any consultations with representatives of civil sector, prepared an initiative concerning abolishment of 14 municipalities (including 7 self-governing cities) that actually means restoration of the former regional territorial arrangement common to Soviet times. This initiative was presented to the municipalities as to be “agreed upon”.

On May 15, 2017, the first stage of public discussions about the constitutional amendments was concluded. At this stage, 10 public discussions have been held [1] while public discussions planned to be held in Tbilisi were disrupted.[2]

Tbilisi City Hall released a statement on May 17, 2017 concerning the planned amendments to the rules of funding the program. In particular, the amendments envisage a scaling down of the number of therapy sessions for children aged 7-15 years,

GYLA once again responds to Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze's case and considers the closure of the court hearings unjustified.