Web Portal on Human Rights in Georgia

Workers employed at the construction of the dam in the village of Nikozi in Gori district have been requesting the salary arrears from the contractor company. The workers met the representatives of the Company “Gola XXI, Ltd” located in Mitskevich Street # 25 in Tbilisi. Journalist of the regional newspaper “Kartlis Khma” (Voice of Kartli region) Giorgi Edisherashvili was video-recording the meeting. The representatives of the company locked the journalist in the room and erased all the materials from the camera.

Moscow was dissatisfied and confused by the word “occupation” used by the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton in her statement about the Georgian-Russian war in August of 2008. Russian analyists loudly announce that the real reason of the current situation is the lost information war with Georgia; analyst of political and military institute Anatoli Chigankov said “Although Russia started the military operation in 2008 only to force peace in Georgia, Tbilisi won the information war,” wrote the newspaper “Resonance” in the article “We Should Admit the Lost Information War with Georgia,” – They started speaking about neutralizing Georgian propaganda and creation of federal media-channel in Georgian language.”

In the village of Khorshi in Senaki district people have to carry out the dead person by tractor because there is no bridge on the River Zandzga. Children go to school with towels if the river is not flooded and can cross the river on foot. If the river is flooded, children cannot go to school.

Director of the Tbilisi Public School # 14 Zviad Miminoshvili is compelled to resign – the member of the Liberty Institute Tea Tutberidze reported about it.

Sauna with suspicious reputation continues working on the ground floor of the Hotel “Rustavi” in Rustavi city. It is the sauna where the cruel minister of the Rose government Irakli Okruashvili (former minister of interior) carried out special operation years ago. The fact of prostitution was confirmed in the sauna. The law enforcement officers found naked women and their clients in the building. The special operation was video-recorded and the entire Georgia saw them in news programs of the national TV-Channels.

Coordinator of the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders in Armenia Mika Danelian handed the open letter of the Georgian and Azerbaijan human rights defenders to the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton at the US Embassy together with the letter of the Armenian human rights defenders. On July 5, representative of the Armenian Helsinki Association Mika Danelian was invited to the meeting with Hillary Clinton in Yerevan together with two more members of the South Caucasus Network of Human Rights Defenders –Artur Sakunts and Levon Barsagian.

We publish the full text of the open letter of Georgian human rights defenders:

After Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's recent visit, the Obama administration wants to prove it has a strategy to deepen ties with allies such as Poland while it pursues a reset with Russia, so it has sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a whirlwind tour of Central and Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. The trip also seeks to blunt conservative criticism that Washington is sacrificing allies for the sake of reconciliation with Moscow.

Trunk-Line gas pipe-line will not be sold out but it might be managed together with Russia like it is planned for the Enguri Hydro Electro Station (HES). The Prime-minister of Georgia Nika Gilauri tried to convince the society in a strict tone that the gas pipe-line will not be sold. However, he added that it might be governed together with a private company. The former minister of economic development Kakha Bendukidze carried out negotiations about joint management with Russia for many years.  

The trial of the academician Vladimer Vakhania was renewed at the Kutaisi Appeal Court. The attorneys spoke about health conditions of the prisoner and general situation in the prison in their interviews with the journalists. The attorneys state that Vladimer Vakhania was detained according to the government’s order; that he is a political prisoner and it is very difficult to defend him from the unfair judiciary system.

The number of teachers is drastically reduced at schools. Reportedly, teachers with less than 18 working hours will be dismissed from schools. The ministry of education denies the information and blames the Independent Trade Union of Teachers in spreading similar disinformation.

Kakheti regional governor Giorgi Ghviniashvili made comments about the damage of the video-camera of the journalist Gela Mtivlishvili by Dedoplistskaro district governor. The regional governor called upon the public officials to be more polite with journalists.

Despite the opposite claiming of the ministry of education and science of Georgia, the number of teachers is massively reduced at public schools. Minister Dimitri Shashkin said that the number of teachers will not be reduced and the ministry recommends schools to distribute working hours among teachers fairly. The Human Rights Center interviewed the head of the legal department of the Independent Trade Union “Ertoba” Davit Tsikarishvili.

The JSC “TbilAviaMsheni” (Tbilisi Avia Construction Factory) was assigned to the Defense Minister of Georgia. The head of the purchase department of the ministry Revaz Charbadze reported to the society about it. He said that the enterprise was assigned to the ministry based on the initiative of the factory administration. The Ministry of Defense and the enterprise have successfully cooperated for a long time.

Dedoplistskaro district governor Nikoloz Shanshiashvili seized video-camera from the representative of the Human Rights Center and journalist Gela Mtivlishvili and damaged it. Gela Mtivlishvili recorded the part of the road which was graveled only in three places by the funds allocated within the State Rural Program.

Abkhaz population is minority in the village of Otobaia in Gali district. However, they do not feel themselves different on ethnic grounds. They live like other villagers and have common problems. In the case of necessity, they support their Georgian neighbors.

On June 30, the Human Rights Center presented a new documentary film “A Raid in the Name of Georgia” in the Cinema House.
The new journalistic investigation of the TV-Studio of the Human Rights Center is about persecution of ethnic Ossetian citizens by Georgian authority.