GEORGIA1 135

IHF FOCUS: Elections; peaceful assembly; political prisoners; judicial system; torture and ill-treatment; religious intolerance; international humanitarian law.

Despite a formal commitment to re- Social insecurity led to widespread spect European human rights standards as restlessness in . The Government a Council of member State (since frequently lagged months behind in the April 1999), Georgia continued to violate payment of wages and pensions, and, ac- basic civil and political rights. In 1999 the cording to multilateral lending institutions, Council of Europe recommended that failed to collect taxes. In April, the Georgia review the cases of persons con- International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that victed or detained for their role in the polit- problems of governance and corruption ical upheavals in 1991-92, i.e. members undermined fiscal stability in Georgia, and, and supporters of the administration of in May, found that poverty in Georgia had Former President Gamsakhurdia. However, increased significantly throughout 1998 following the amnesties in 2000, some 30 and the first half 1999. political prisoners remained in prison, and Of the 5.5 million Georgian population, the Parliamentary Human Rights Commit- around 1.5 million left the country in recent tee said in August that their cases were not years for political and, in particular, eco- eligible for amnesty. Vasil Maglaperidze, nomic reasons. The remaining population chair of the Parliamentary Commission for was largely apathetic. There was a great National Reconciliation and known for his gap and mistrust between the population dedication to human rights, replied that and the ruling elite and widespread corrup- should the remaining cases be refused re- tion infiltrated all governmental structures. view, there would be no point in continuing The year 2000 was marked by massive the “reconciliation process.” demonstrations for social rights. The events The OSCE/ODIHR concluded that fun- were mainly spontaneous and not organ- damental freedoms were generally respect- ised by any political party. The electricity ed during the election campaign of the supply collapsed in the fall, leading to a April presidential elections, but noted that constant electricity shortage. In November, further progress is necessary in order for angry people began to demand the light Georgia to fully meet OSCE standards of and heating for which they had paid the fair and free elections. State, and spontaneously blocked the main Problems regarding the Criminal Proce- streets in the capital and highways in dure Code remained unsolved, as numer- different districts of Georgia. Barricades ous provisions that were in line with Euro- were built up and tyres burned in the pean standards were repealed after Geor- streets, with people demanding their un- gia was admitted to the Council of Europe. paid pensions and the resignation of the Torture and ill-treatment remained a President. The situation was almost out of central human rights problem and despite control. Through the intimidation of activists Georgian authorities’ admission that such on the one hand, and groundless promises methods were used, no significant steps on the other, the Government managed to were taken to end the practices. Religious intolerance grew and some postpone the problem for a while. observers claimed that by drawing the pop- 3 ulation’s attention away from social prob- Presidential Elections lems, the Government tolerated, and pos- The presidential elections were held in sibly encouraged, attacks on the so-called Georgia on 9 April. Eleven candidates ap- non-traditional religious groups and individ- plied for registration to the Central Election uals seeking to promote tolerance.2 Commission (CEC). Seven party-nominat- 136 GEORGIA ed and independent candidates were regis- Election Committee applied the legal provi- tered through a procedure that was not ful- sions selectively. ly transparent. Only two candidates, incum- Despite new legal provisions stipulat- bent President and ing the inclusion of additional representa- Jumber Patiashvili, campaigned actively. tives of the parliamentary minority in elec- Eduard Shevardnadze won a second tion commissions at all levels, the parlia- five-year term as President with more than mentary majority retained to a large extent 80 percent of the vote. Voter turnout was its dominant position in the election ad- about 70 percent.4 ministration. The OSCE/ODIHR Election Observati- According to the OSCE/ODIHR, the au- on Mission for the presidential elections thorities provided strong support for the in- concluded that fundamental freedoms cumbent President’s election campaign to were generally respected during the elec- the extent that there was no clear dividing tion campaign and candidates were able to line between state affairs and the incum- express their views. However, the bent’s campaign. Apart from allocating free OSCE/ODHIR noted that further progress is airtime to registered candidates, the state necessary for Georgia to fully meet OSCE media gave the incumbent a clear advan- standards of fair and free elections. In par- tage. ticular, they referred to problems in the fol- The ISHR-Georgia reported violent inci- lowing areas: interference by state authori- dents during the pre-election campaign ties in the election process; deficient elec- and other irregularities. For example, tion legislation; a not fully representative Patiashvili’s election meetings were pelted election administration; and unreliable vot- with stones and local authorities hindered er registers. Other important concerns rela- him from meeting with individuals.5 ted to a number of ambiguous and some- On election day, voting was conducted times contradictory procedural provisions in a generally calm atmosphere. However, of the election legislation. OSCE/ODIHR observers reported a series A substantial number of amendments of identical signatures on the voter lists, had been made to the legislation in order group voting and the presence of unautho- to address some concerns raised previous- rised persons, including police and local of- ly by international observers. However, the ficials, in polling stations. OSCE/ODIHR stated that other concerns The election process deteriorated dur- were only remedied partially or not ad- ing the counting procedures, which lacked dressed at all. Furthermore, some amend- uniformity and, at times, transparency. ments enhanced the powers of the chair- Tabulation procedures lacked transparency persons of election commissions at all lev- and instances of protocol tampering were els, thus raising new concerns. The fact that reported. In general, procedural safeguards several amendments were adopted less to support the integrity of the process were than three weeks prior to the elections cre- not implemented, in part due to a lack of ated confusion among the election admin- adequate administrative instructions and istration and some political parties, in par- training. ticular those entitled to appoint new mem- bers to the election commissions. In fact, Political Prisoners the implementation of the amended provi- Since 1992, real or presumed support- sions was delayed beyond legal deadlines, ers of the Government of former President thus frequently preventing the new mem- have been harassed bers from fully participating in the adminis- and sentenced to long prison terms. Others tration of the election process. In addition, were detained routinely for periods ranging on a number of occasions, the Central from a couple of days to two weeks, con- GEORGIA 137 victed on charges of terrorism and high prisoners who were members or support- treason, mostly in unfair trials, following the ers of the Gamsakhurdia Government, in- ousting of the former President in 1991. As cluding Gudgabidze, Bichashvili, Dgala- of the end of 2000, some 30 such persons gonia and Djichonaia. Dozens of other po- remained in prison. litical prisoners, who were sentenced un- The Council of Europe Parliamentary der Articles 104 and 105 of the Criminal Assembly recommended in 1999 that the Code (murder), were not covered by the Georgian Government “review the cases decree.10 of persons convicted or detained for their In a June letter to Zurab Jvania, Chair- part in the upheavals of 1991-92 within man of the Parliament, the IHF criticised 6 two years after its accession.” the fact that not all political prisoners’ cas- In early 2000, within the framework of es had been reviewed,11 including the ap- “national reconciliation,” the Parliament re- proximately 30 remaining cases of the 44 viewed a number of cases of political pris- prisoners pardoned by President Shevar- oners who had been involved in the 1991- dnadze on 2 August (out of the 147 92 upheavals.7 names submitted to him for considera- In March, a hunger strike was declared tion). Elene Tevdoradze, Chairwoman of by political prisoners Bidzina Gudgabidze, the Parliamentary Human Rights Commit- David Bichashvili, Murtaz Dgalagonia and tee, said that all Gamsakhurdia supporters Karlo Djichonaia, demanding a general and eligible for amnesty had already been re- unconditional amnesty for political prison- 12 ers. As the Government paid no attention leased. In reaction to that statement, at first, numerous political prisoners in oth- Chairman of the Parliamentary Commis- er penitentiaries, labour camps and deten- sion for National Reconciliation Vasil Mag- tion facilities joined the hunger strike. As of laperidze noted that if the Parliament were the end of March, the number totalled to refuse to consider any further cases, more than 50 persons.8 there would be no reason to continue the 13 On 30 March, the IHF sent an open “reconciliation process.” letter to President Shevardnadze express- ing its appreciation for the release of two Peaceful Assembly political prisoners, Nemo Chanturia and Although the right to peaceful assem- Tamaz Gorelishvili, for medical reasons, as bly was generally respected in Georgia in the IHF had requested in 1999. Unfortuna- 2000, on at least one occasion the Ministry tely, a third prisoner, Karlo Djichonaia, who- of Interior troops dispersed a peaceful se case the IHF had raised at the same demonstration using force. time, was not released, although he was blind as a result of ill-treatment in pre-trial On 28 October, the wife of former detention. The IHF emphasised that a re- President Gamsakhurdia organised an as- view of all cases is vital to a process of “na- sembly at the Freedom Square in Tbilisi to th tional reconciliation.” The IHF stated that, af- commemorate the 10 anniversary of the ter eight years, the wounds inflicted by the first multi-party elections in Georgia. past conflict could only heal when all the Representatives of many political parties cases involving the supporters of former participated in the event. Authorities had President Gamsakhurdia’s Government are sanctioned the assembly and the head of resolved in a way consistent with their po- the police was present. The assembly was litical rights.9 held for about two hours before OMON On 19 April, President Shevardnadze troops suddenly appeared and began beat- issued an amnesty decree for the release ing the participants, arresting some of of 279 prisoners, including 65 political them.14 138 GEORGIA

Judicial System tor in carrying out judicial reform. However, Judicial Reform and Detainees’ Rights15 the repeal of the right to access to court to The Government, with assistance from review complaints compounded corruption the international community, was carrying in the criminal justice system. In practice, out a high profile reform of the court sys- by restricting access to courts law enforce- tem. However, restrictions on access to the ment officials were left with a wide scope courts, together with other provisions in the to coerce bribes from those individuals Criminal Procedure Code, severely ham- they deemed to be under criminal investi- pered individuals’ access to courts to sub- gation, while providing little or no recourse stantiate, for example, a report of torture. for an effective legal remedy to protest On 15 May 1999, a new Criminal Pro- such misconduct. cedure Code came into force in Georgia, Other violations of detainees’ rights in- and had been drafted after significant con- cluded the coercion of detainees to accept sultation with Georgian defence lawyers ac- lawyers they had not freely chosen, and tively working in the area of criminal law. who did not vigorously complain about Prior to its adoption, the new Code had mistreatment or otherwise adequately rep- been reviewed by Council of Europe ex- resent their clients’ interests. perts to ensure that it conformed to the According to the Caucasian Centre for ECHR and to standards developed in the Human Rights (IHF cooperating organiza- case law of the European Court of Human tion), there was very little expectation that a Rights. criminal justice system that severely im- Georgia was accepted as a full mem- peded individuals’ ability to substantiate a ber of the Council of Europe on 27 April claim of torture before a court could ever 1999. However, shortly after this on 13 and be confident of ensuring fair trials. Given 28 May 1999, the Parliament adopted a to- this failure, it was understandable that the tal of 289 amendments to the new Code, judiciary did not enjoy broad public trust. and 63 further amendments on 22–23 17 July. In total, these amendments altered or Torture and Ill-Treatment replaced nearly half of all the articles in the Torture and ill-treatment remained a new Code. central human rights problem, and despite Some of the extensive amendments Georgian authorities’ admission to the use adopted in May and July severely eroded of such methods, no significant steps were the rights of persons under investigation, taken to implement the recommendations narrowing access to courts of general juris- made by the UN Committee against Torture diction during criminal investigations as had and by the UN Human Rights Committee. been previously envisaged in the new Reports of torture to coerce confes- Code. These amendments affected individ- sions in pre-trial detention were wide- uals wanting to submit a complaint to a spread in Georgia and frequently accompa- court prior to trial when the procurator, po- nied by other procedural violations that ap- lice, other law enforcement or security peared to be specifically intended to cover agencies committed abuse during a crimi- up physical abuse and to ensure that per- nal investigation. The repeal of the reforms petrators would not be brought to justice. was alarming given the persistent reports of Detainees in police custody were often rampant physical abuse of detainees to se- subjected to physical and psychological cure confessions and other blatant proce- duress, and the denial of access to a de- dural irregularities during criminal investiga- fence lawyer facilitated such abuse. tions in Georgia.16 Beatings were commonplace and relatives Georgian officials stated that concerns were frequently faced with financial or oth- regarding corruption were a motivating fac- er demands in exchange for a detainee’s GEORGIA 139 release. Threats that family members On 16-17 August, Father Basili’s group would be tortured or murdered were also attacked dozens of individuals. On 16 used against detainees. August, they attacked journalists and Jehovah’s Witnesses during a trial, assault- Religious Intolerance ing and beating RFE/RL correspondent In 2000, mobs attacked religious mi- Sozar Subeliani. Canadian human rights nority group members in various locations. lawyer John Burns, who was monitoring the Jehovah’s Witnesses were particularly sin- trial, was dragged to the ground and struck gled out as targets. Police officers not only with a large wooden cross. Some 80 failed to bring to justice the perpetrators, members of the group present shouted in- but also in several instances actually sults, and threatened and assaulted specta- charged the victims with crimes such as tors and Jehovah’s Witnesses seated in the hooliganism, a criminal offence in Georgia. courtroom. On the following day, about 40 Moreover, in some cases, police officers followers of Father Basili assaulted human were involved in the attacks. rights defenders and a journalist as they left In August, Deputy Speaker of the trial they had been monitoring. Parliament, Giga Tsereteli, reportedly an- On 17 October, 120-150 members of nounced that the Parliament would create a special group charged with drafting a law Father Basili’s congregation assaulted wor- on religion. According to Tsereteli, the bill shipers at a Jehovah’s Witnesses service in will be based on the constitutionally guar- Guldani District beating, kicking and punch- anteed principle of freedom of belief but ing them. At least 16 individuals required would “regulate” the activities of religious hospital treatment, one suffered perma- organizations that engage in “anti-national nent injuries. Footage of the incident, taped activity and infringe human rights.”18 by the attackers themselves, was later broadcast on the Rustavi 2 and Channel 2 Jehovah’s Witnesses19 news programs. At the initiative of MP Guram Sharadze, In early September, violent attacks on the Tbilisi Regional Court revoked the legal Jehovah’s Witnesses spread to Western status of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Georgia Georgia. on 26 June. On appeal, the Supreme Court On 3 September, Jehovah’s Witnesses was to decide whether to cancel or uphold were attacked by an armed group in two the registration, but the decision was ad- cities in the western part of the Republic of journed until January 2001. Georgia, Senaki and Kutaisi. In Kutaisi, two Most attacks against Jehovah’s Witnes- police officers were involved in the attack. ses were reported from the Gldani district, in Yura Papava, a resident of Senaki, said that a suburb of Tbilisi, where a Georgian the congregation was meeting peacefully in Orthodox priest known as Father Basili for- his home “when suddenly a man entered med a group named the Gldani Orthodox the house and demanded to know what Diocese. The group was apparently not for- we were doing and what we were teaching. mally recognised by the Georgian Orthodox Without waiting for an answer, he and five Church, and its members espoused ultra-na- or six other men started smashing the fur- tionalist views, and were especially virulent in 20 their intolerance of non-Orthodox faiths. By niture.“ the end of August, the group was responsi- The Georgian Parliament condemned ble for at least eight attacks against Jehovah’s the violence on 26 September. A total of Witnesses and members of other faiths. The 133,162 people, most of them Georgian group stalked Jehovah’s Witnesses and as- Orthodox, signed a petition protesting the saulted them verbally and physically. mob violence. As the petition was being 140 GEORGIA presented at a press conference at the between Russia and Abkhazia, and be- Georgian Ombudsman’s Office on 22 tween Russia and South Osetia, many peo- January 2001, Father Basili and his follow- ple interpreted the imposition of a visa re- ers burst into the room and seized the vol- quirement as a virtual annexation of Abkha- umes of the petition and verbally and phys- zia and South Osetia, apparently in order to ically abused the persons present.21 punish Georgia for its support of Western pressure on the withdrawal of Russian mil- International Humanitarian Law itary bases from Georgia. Georgians who have been living in Ru- Abkhazia ssia for years (numbering over 900,000), The ethnic Georgian population was including refugees from Abkhazia, were subjected to “ethnic cleansing” during the obliged to apply for Russian visas or could continuing conflict in Abkhazia. Abkhaz mili- be considered illegal residents in Russia. tia killed and raped Georgians still remaining They were under the threat of arbitrary de- in the Gali district (still with a small Georgian tention, police brutality, deportation, and population) on a daily basis. The atrocities other human rights violations. were obviously carried out in order to chan- On 31 January 2001, the IHF together ge the existing ethnic balance. For the same with several Helsinki committees sent an reason, the Abkhaz Government refused open letter to President Putin noting that the organised return of Georgian internally the Russian Federation has actively con- displaced persons (IDP) unless Abkhazia is tributed to the deterioration of the human internationally recognised. rights situation in Georgia through Russia’s The few IDPs who returned sponta- support of the forces responsible for desta- neously at their own risk came under the bilization and inter-ethnic conflict in the constant threat of death and had no effec- country. This has led to severe violations of tive protection. Russian peacekeeping human rights, criminal activity and a repres- troops deployed in the region were not sive state policy, which the existing regime able or willing to provide any protection for excuses by quoting security considerations. the Georgian population of Abkhazia, and The IHF and the Helsinki Committees also in fact showed support for the Abkhaz side. noted that withdrawal of two Russian mili- There were many well-documented cases tary bases from Georgian territory, agreed in which Russian peacekeepers took part in at the OSCE summit in Istanbul, has not killing and raiding the peaceful Georgian been carried out. In addition, they criticised population. According to the Caucasian Hu- the new discriminatory Russian visa re- man Rights Centre, the only solution ap- quirements for Georgian citizens. 22 peared to be the withdrawal of Russian The IHF and the Helsinki Committees troops from the conflict region and the de- also expressed their concern that the ployment of Ukrainian or any other troops Russian Federation continued to extend under the UN mandate (Ukraine has offi- moral, political, financial and military sup- cially agreed to this possibility). port to the self-proclaimed regimes in Ab- Following the November statement of khazia and South Ossetia. They noted that President Putin, Russia imposed a one- the contingent of Russian peacekeeping sided visa requirement on 5 December for forces in Georgia often violated the rights all Georgian citizens, but not for the resi- of non-combatant citizens, rather than pro- dents of Abkhazia and South Osetia. As moting human rights observance in conflict Georgia was unable to control its borders zones.23 GEORGIA 141

Endnotes 1 Unless otherwise noted, based on information obtained by the IHF and its affiliate Caucasian Centre for Human Rights. 2 Human Rights Watch/Europe and Central Asia Division, “Georgia Lets Attacks on Religious Believers Go Unpunished,” press release and open letter to President Shevardnadze, 6 September 2000. 3 Unless otherwise noted, based on OSCE/ODIHR, Republic of Georgia: Presidential Elections, 9 April 2000, Final Report. 4 RFE/RL Newsline, 10 April 2000. 5 National Section of Georgia of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), “Presidential Elections in the Republic of Georgia, 2000,” 19 April 2000. 6 Opinion no. 209, Para 10, 1999. 7 The National Section of Georgia of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), April 2000. 8 Ibid. 9 IHF, “Political Prisoners in Georgia on Hunger Strike: Open Letter to President Eduard Shevardnadze,“ 30 March 2000. 10 Ibid. 11 IHF open letter to Zurab Jvania, Chairman of the Parliament, 7 June 2000. 12 RFE/RL Newsline, 4 August 2000. 13 The Caucasian Centre for Human Rights, November 2000. 14 Ibid. 15 Based on information from the Caucasian Centre for Human Rights to the IHF, 18 August 2000. 16 See Torture and Ill-Treatment. 17 Based on information from the Caucasian Centre for Human Rights to the IHF, 18 August 2000. 18 RFE/RL Newsline, 17 August 2000. 19 Unless otherwise noted, based on Human Rights Watch/Europe and Central Asia Division, “Georgia Lets Attacks on Religious Believers Go Unpunished,” press release and open letter to President Shevardnadze, 6 September 2000. 20 According to Guram Kvaratskhelia, spokesman for the Witnesses, Watch Tower Public Affairs Office, 9 September 2000, distributed by Human Rights Without Frontiers on 11 September 2000. 21 Human Rights Without Frontiers, 22 January 2001. 22 An open letter from the IHF and the Helsinki Committees in Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine to the President of the Russian Federation and to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, 31 January 2001. 23 Ibid.