The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) elected on October 10 Lado Chanturia as the Georgia-nominated judge to the European Court of Human Rights.

Chanturia, who served as Georgia’s ambassador to Germany from 2014, obtained an absolute majority of votes cast (120 out of 179) and was elected a judge of the European Court of Human Rights for a term of office of nine years. His two opponents – Lali Papiashvili and Otar Sichinava – garnered 54 and five votes, respectively.

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili welcomed the PACE vote in his brief statement on October 10, stressing that Chanturia “has deserved this high status with his knowledge, experience and reputation.”

Parliamentary Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze issued a congratulatory message as well, saying that Georgia will be represented by “a highly qualified, experienced and decent individual.” “I believe Lado Chanturia’s work will demonstrate to our European friends and partners that Georgia is getting closer to Europe,” he wrote.

Chanturia’s tenure will commence no later than three months after his election.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights rules on individual or state applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. 

The tenure of Nona Tsotsoria, previous Georgia-nominated ECHR judge, expired in January 2017, but was prolonged due to the PACE committee rejection of Georgia-nominated candidates.