Reports Slam Georgian Government for Use of Force, Authoritarian Tendencies

In a stinging appraisal of former President Mikheil Saakashvili's administration, two international reports released this week charge that the Georgian government has recently shown increasing tendencies toward strong-arm tactics that put at risk its reputation as a democratic turnaround state. The government of Acting President Nino Burjanadze has not yet responded to the criticism.

The most recent report, released by Human Rights Watch on December 20, addressed the use of force to quell protests in Tbilisi on November 7 and to shut down pro-opposition television broadcaster Imedi. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

The survey, entitled Crossing the Line, notes that the government "faced enormous challenges in maintaining law and order" and in handling violent protestors, but affirms that the measures taken by law enforcement officers were not justified by events. "There was no apparent measured or proportionate escalation of the use of force either to disperse demonstrators or to respond to sporadic violence," the report reads.

Despite Georgia's image "as an example of a successful transition to democracy," the November 7 crackdown illustrates "the fragility of Georgia's commitment to human rights and the rule of law," according to the report.

At a December 20 press conference in Tbilisi, Rachel Denber, deputy director of the watchdog's Europe and Central Asia division, stated that the actions taken appeared to be "used to punish" protestors with the understanding that the government would turn a blind eye to such measures. Government representatives, she said, have affirmed that such incidents were isolated, not policy-driven, and the result of "a lack of planning or training for police."

Researcher Jane Buchanan added that "[w]hile this may be true . . . our research shows that the nature and the consistency of some police action makes clear that even if the violence against protestors was not condoned by the government, it was going to be tolerated." The survey draws its conclusions from interviews with 35 witnesses of the November 7 protest crackdown.

The organization has met with mid-level representatives of the National Security Council, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to express its concerns, Denber said, adding that the Prosecutor's Office and interior ministry had cancelled a meeting "at a high level." It has called for the General Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation into instances of violence against protestors and into abuse of journalists on November 7, and for the interior ministry to dismiss law enforcement officers responsible for such actions. Particular mention was made of the lack of identity badges worn by police officers implicated in the violence.

The ministry had earlier stated that it has begun an investigation into excessive use of force by police.

"[T]he government should see that it's in their own interests to conduct such an investigation," Denber affirmed," because if it does not, it will make itself open to many claims at the European Court of Human Rights."

In the days following November 7, however, the government argued that the actions taken were no different than those any European country would use to respond to a security threat or to a demonstration run rampant. State-financed Georgian Public Broadcasting routinely broadcast footage from police clashes with protestors in various European capitals.

Denber characterized the government's argument as "completely irrelevant."

"If a human rights violation happens in France, it's a human rights violation. If it happens in Georgia, it's a human rights violation." In such cases, governments, she continued, have "an obligation to investigate and to hold people accountable."

The Human Rights Watch team added that it had not looked into widespread allegations that individuals who photographed or filmed the protests have been arrested.

The government has not yet issued an official response to the findings, though in a talk show on Imedi TV late on December 20, Justice Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili stated that the release date for the report – some 17 days before Georgia's presidential elections – suggested bias and was "damaging" to Human Rights Watch's reputation as a non-political human rights group, according to an English-language summary of the broadcast posted on news bulletin service Civil.ge. [Human Rights Watch receives funding from the Open Society Institute. EurasiaNet.org operates under the Open Society Institute's Central Eurasia Project].

The Saakashvili campaign could not be reached for comment in time for publication. The former president has previously pledged that "there will be an appropriate response from the Georgian authorities" if any police officer is found to have behaved inappropriately during the November 7 events. "It was not very pleasant for me what happened and it was very hard to see and listen to what happened," he said in a November 25 interview on Rustavi-2.

The Human Rights Watch report followed on the heels of a December 19 study by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group that reached similar conclusions about the November 7 events, but delivered a stinging evaluation of the government campaign to "reform at any cost."

The ICG report, Georgia: Sliding Towards Authoritarianism?, took note of the achievements made under Saakashvili – reported economic growth of 9.4 percent in 2006; the return of 24-hour electricity supplies – but also highlighted serious problem areas, ranging from "the concentration of power in a small, like-minded elite and unwillingness to countenance criticism" to a discredited judicial system, abuse of property rights and state pressure on television journalists.

"If Mikheil Saakashvili is re-elected in January, as is likely, he and his government will face a choice," the report found. "They can continue on their increasingly authoritarian path – cracking down on the opposition, dismantling institutional checks and balances and tolerating (if not encouraging) cronyism at the highest levels – or they can give substance to their democratic rhetoric. "

The report called on the international community to "insist that the newly elected leadership stop the slide toward authoritarianism." [The International Crisis Group is financed in part by the Open Society Institute. EurasiaNet.org operates under the Open Society Institute's Central Eurasia Project].

A spokesperson for the president's office told EurasiaNet that there are as yet no plans to issue an official response to either report.