EurasiaNet Civil Society - NGO Staffers Believe Attack in Georgia Linked to Government Corruption

CIVIL SOCIETY

NGO STAFFERS BELIEVE ATTACK IN GEORGIA LINKED TO GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION

Ken Stier 7/16/02

The recent attack against one of Georgia’s most vocal human rights advocacy groups, the Liberty Institute, is widely perceived as part of a more protracted struggle between reform-minded forces and entrenched corrupt interests seeking to preserve the existing order.

A gang of men stormed the Liberty Institute’s Tbilisi office on July 10, beating staff and destroying equipment. The identities and affiliation of the attackers remain unknown. Some observers suspect the raid to be the work of ultra-nationalists thugs. Others, including Liberty Institute staffers, have suggested that government agents were involved in the attack.

Tbilisi Prosecutor Tengiz Makharadze on July 15 denied any link to law-enforcement officials in the incident, and vowed to bring the attackers to justice. Meanwhile, President Eduard Shevardnadze deplored the attack.

Many observers have drawn a parallel between the Liberty Institute incident and the October 2001 attack against the Rustavi-2 independent television station. Both entities have worked to expose instances of high-level government corruption. The Rustavi-2 raid, for example, followed a series of investigative reports about corruption in the state security apparatus. The Rustavi-2 incident and subsequent protests caused Shevardnadze to reshuffle his cabinet.

"We are now witnessing a fight between corrupt entrenched interests and the forces for transformation, for establishing democracy, and the Liberty Institute is a major watchdog for this process." says Archil Gegeshidze, a senior fellow of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

"This is a life and death struggle, a critical moment for Georgia’s future," Gegeshidze added.

Among Georgia’s political class, the Liberty Institute attack appears to be galvanizing opposition to Shevardnadze’s administration. On July 12, nine political parties including the New National Movement, the New Rights Party, Traditionalists and National-Democratic Party of Georgia signed a joint statement condemning the government for its increasingly "criminal and violent policy" towards its political opponents.

"Of course I blame Government inaction for what happened � because recently there have been many attacks � and nobody has been punished," said Elene Tevdoradze, head of Parliament’s Human Rights Committee. "I fear that this attack may be the beginning of attacks on the opposition parties."

Liberty Institute staffers insist the attack will not deter them from pursuing efforts to expose government corruption. The institute has assisted investigative reporters from the Tbilisi Press Club in the preparation of reports that have received wide play in the Georgian media, and which have forced the resignations of several officials.

"Shevardnadze hates us and Rustavi-2," says Levan Ramishvili, the institute’s director. "Of course, the government cannot say, or seem to be going after us because of this [for exposing corruption], so they have manufactured this controversy."

In the weeks leading up to the attack, the Liberty Institute had engaged in rhetorical clashes with right-wing forces over civil-liberty issues, particularly religious freedom. One of the institute’s main antagonists has been Guram Sharadze, a ultra-nationalist politician, noted for his efforts to introduce ethnicity listing in national identification cards, and his campaign against non-traditional religious groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witness. The Liberty Institute, which receives funding from USAID and the Soros Foundation-Georgia, has been vocal advocate of tolerance.

During a televised debate, the Liberty Institute’s Ramishvili characterized Sharadze as a "fascist." Sharadze demanded Parliament take action against Ramishvili but was rebuffed, leading Sharadze to resign in protest.

On July 8, hundreds of Sharadze’s supporters rallied in downtown Tbilisi. Speakers at the event vilified the Liberty Institute, and Sharadze was quoted saying: "I am going to achieve in the streets whatever I could not achieve in parliament, and I do not mean just demonstrations only." Later about 200 demonstrators pelted the institute’s building with eggs while chanting: "final warning."

Despite the antagonism between Sharadze and the institute, Liberty Institute staffers say the conduct of the attackers is indicative of a government role. During the five-minute rampage, the attackers seemed to know the layout of the offices, worked with surprising efficiency, responding to short commands. They worse no masks and had no getaway car - even though the justice ministry is on the same block - and walked briskly away and blended with mid-afternoon pedestrian traffic. Institute staffers believe the object of the raid was to serve as a warning to the institute to drop its anti-corruption activities.

The Liberty Institute raid could mark the start of a rise in political violence, some observers believe. A recent presidential pardon, reported July 6, of three men - including former Interior Minister Temur Khachishvili, and Giga Gelashvili, a former leading member of the Mkhedrioni, a notorious paramilitary group - reinforced growing fears among the opposition that the Shevardnadze government is bracing for unrest. In return for pardoning these men, imprisoned since 1998 for attempting to assassinate the president, Shevardnadze is hoping to receive their political support, some experts believe.

"Otherwise why release them?" asked one Tbilisi political analyst, who requested anonymity. "It is obvious these people cannot and will not contribute to overall stability in the country, not killers like these men."

In addition to being implicated in the Shevardnadze assassination attempt, the trio is also accused of killing several other political figures, including Giorgi Chanturia. His widow, Irina Sarisvili-Chanturia, now chairwoman of her husband’s National Democratic Party, said she intends to sue them for the December 1994 murder of her husband, according to the Resonazi newspaper, who also reported that she doubled her personal bodyguards since their release.

Editor�s Note: Ken Stier is a freelance journalist who has worked in several countries.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.