Georgian Government’s Image Takes Hit over Rights Abuse Incidents

As US President George W. Bush prepares to visit Georgia in early May, the Georgian government's civil rights record is coming under scrutiny. Recent developments concerning Georgia's rights climate have dented the image of President Mikheil Saakashvili's administration in Tbilisi.

Bush's planned visit to Georgia on May 9-10 aims to promote Georgian democratization efforts. Since coming to power amid the 2003 Rose Revolution, Saakashvili has sought to steer the country in a Western direction. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. As part of the Westernization drive, Saakashvili has acted forcefully to contain rampant official corruption, while vowing to bring Georgia's legal system and law-enforcement practices into line with Western European standards.

On April 12, the international watchdog group Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report – titled Georgia: Uncertain Torture Reform -- that asserted the Saakashvili administration had not fulfilled a pledge to improve civil rights conditions for prisoners during the pre-trial detention period. Georgia law-enforcement officials have long had a reputation for resorting to torture and other improper methods in order to coerce confessions from detainees. Though the problems began long before Saakashvili came to power, the HRW report gave his administration low marks for curbing abuses.

"The new government ... has taken some steps to address such abusive practices, but these efforts have proven inadequate to stem them," the report said. "Moreover, some of the government's new law enforcement policies appeared to trigger new allegations of due process violations, torture, and ill-treatment."

The report noted that Georgian officials have started to take action to improve police training and enhance oversight at detention facilities. At the same time, it singled out the plea-bargaining system, instituted in early 2004, for particular criticism. "Many high-profile cases of former government officials and businessmen charged with offenses related to corruption have been resolved through the defendant's payment of large sums of money to the state in exchange for the dropping of charges," the HRW report said.

A same day that HRW released its report, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that both Georgia and Russia violated the rights of 13 Chechens during a 2002 incident on the Russian-Georgian border. Under the ruling, the court ordered Georgia to pay damages amounting to EUR 84,500 (roughly $100,000), while Russia was ordered to pay EUR 44,000 (about $53,000). The case focused on the detainment of the 13 Chechen men on suspicion of subversive activity and the subsequent extradition of several of the men to Russia.

While the case covered a period when former Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze was in power, the summary of the court's decision, issued by the Council of Europe, touched on an incident during Saakashvili's tenure, in February 2004, when two of the Chechens mysteriously disappeared in Tbilisi, only to resurface several days later as prisoners of Russian authorities. The court went on to note Georgian and Russian officials had yet to supply a "convincing explanation" for the remarkable string of events in 2004.

"Absolutely nothing has changed at all," said Ucha Nanuashvili, Executive Director of the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center, referring to the civil rights practices of authorities. "This was a good decision [by the ECHR], as persecution still persists today and the authorities continue to violate people's human rights in general."

Controversy involving the abuse of soldiers in the Georgian military has caused additional damage to the government's reputation. In early April, Georgian civil society activists condemned the Defense Ministry, saying top military officials tolerated abusive practices by officers toward enlisted personnel. They cited a recent incident in which a high-ranking officer at the Saguramo military base, Col. Gela Lomsadze, ordered a conscript, Arkady Kukava, to remain outdoors all night while half-naked. Kukava was subsequently hospitalized with pneumonia, the Civil Georgia website reported. The commanding officer at the base suspended Lomsadze over the incident, but the suspension was overturned on April 3 by Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, who cited a need to maintain military discipline.

Okruashvili's decision has been roundly denounced by NGO activists in Tbilisi. "Okruashvili seems to have assumed the functions of prosecutor and judge at the same time," prominent rights activists Paata Zakareishvili told the newspaper 24 hours. NGO activists expressed the hope that the issue of abuses within the military will become a topic of conversation during Bush's visit to Tbilisi.