“Spectator” Single Mandate MPs

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti News Center

President Saakashvili categorically opposes amendment of the current election system of single mandate MPs. He said the districts should have their single mandate candidates in the parliament of Georgia because they are accountable to their electors rather than to their party leaders. Who are single mandate MPs from Kakheti region and what they in fact do for their districts? We will describe the activities of the Sighnaghi district single mandate MP.

President’s Arguments

“Several radical opposition parties wish the districts of Georgia not to have their representatives in the Parliament of Georgia; they want to decide unilaterally who will elect prime-minister and ministers in the next parliament which will have more power,” said the President Saakashvili during his TV-meeting with the population of Argveti village in Sachkhere district in the yard of the late poet Mukhran Machavariani on April 2. He discussed the election system together with several other issues during the meeting and tried to protect the position of the ruling party about the election system of the single mandate MPs.

“It is very clear – when I was a single mandate candidate from the central district of Tbilisi, I definitely knew that I was not accountable to my party leaders or my friends; the people had elected me and those people would have not elected me for the next elections if I deceived them,” he said.

The disagreement on this topic started before the election reform was being discussed in November, 2010. Five months later, one of the main obstacles for the negotiations was the election system of single mandate MPs. The ruling party declared that they are not going to decline the system and agree with the joint proposal of the eight opposition parties who requested to elect 75 out of total 150 MPs according to proportional system and the other 75 from regional-proportional system instead single-mandate one. Nevertheless, the ruling party requested to increase number of single mandate MPs in the parliament though the opposition declined their initiative.

Who are the single mandate MPs from Kakheti region and what do they in fact do for their districts? We will describe the activities of the Sighnaghi district single mandate MP.

Oppression on Village Councilors

Nugzar Abulashvili was born in Jugaani village, Sighnaghi district on September 13, 1973. In 1991-96 he was a driver of the Sighnaghi district melioration and water department. In 1996-99 he was inspector of the Sighnaghi district association of hungers and fishers. In 2002-2003 he was a lawyer at the Sighnaghi district office of the National Bar Association. In 2004, he occupied the position of the chairman of the Jugaani Community. After the Rose Revolution (2003) he became the member of the parliament from the political party National Movement –Democrats.

Being an MP, Nugzar Abulashvili started oppression of the local self-governmental officials. The former chairman of the Anaga village council Gogi Chirinashvili is one of those who opposed illegal demands of the MP. Chirinashvili said the MP demanded him to resign but he refused. “After that he started to threaten me with imprisonment; he sent financial police, officers from the prosecutor’s office; several investigations were launched but could not do anything; finally; he threatened to exile me from the district in the name of the President of Georgia. Before that, he compelled the financial department of the Sighnaghi district administration not to transfer allocated fund to our village in order to put us in financial isolation,” said Gogi Chirinashvili.

Nugzar Abulashvili requested chairmen of other councils to resign. The former councilor of Dzveli Anaga village Amiran Gvedashvili said he resigned because Abulashvili demanded him. The councilors of Erisimedi, Vakiri and Jugaani villages also resigned because of the MP’s demands. 69-year-old Matvei Remizov, chair of the council of Ulianovka village, did not obey the demands of the MP and the latter invited him to the district administration and categorically demanded him to resign. Matvei Remizov did not give his final reply to Abulashvili and requested time for consideration. Several days later, law enforcement officers detained him for bribery. Kakheti regional prosecutor’s office blamed the old man for abusing his power. Telavi District Court sent Remizov to imprisonment where he spent 6 months. In the custody, gangrene started on Remizov’s left toe. The disease aggravate because of lack of proper medical treatment. Finally, his left leg was amputated. Sighnaghi district prosecutor’s office signed plea-agreement with the disabled man. Remizov sold everything to pay the imposed 10 000 GEL to the budget; his relatives also assisted him financially. The court sentenced him to 5-year conditional sentence. After the release Remizov’s health conditions worsened and he died.

Dispersal of Journalists

Just to protest oppression on the local self-government by Nugzar Abulashvili, on June 15, 2006 the members of the Kakheti based non-governmental organizations planned a theatre protest rally in Sighnaghi. The journalists, who wanted to cover the rally, were attacked by the activists of the Sighnaghi office of the National Movement, the ruling party. They insulted and physically assaulted journalists, dispersed correspondents, broke their microphones, Dictaphones, seized video-cassettes and photo-cameras. Journalists Roman Kevkhishvili, Zviad Ruadze and Gela Jaliashvili were injured.

The incident lasted about 40 minutes but the police officers were watching the harassment of journalists calmly though they asked the Sighnaghi district chief police officer Aleksandre Onanashvili to help them. The police officers, Besik Pkhovelishvili, Gia Siprashvili and Iago Kochlamazashvili, who also participated in the dispersal, put the harassers – interim councilor of Vakiri village Ioseb Nanobashvili and local resident Jemal Demetrashvili – in the police cars and took them to the local office of the National Movement. The former chairwoman of the Parliament of Georgia Nino Burjanadze made a statement about the incident and said it was vandalism. She requested immediate investigation of the incident and punishment of the harassers. “If it is proved that the members of the National Movement or police officers participated in the dispersal, they should be punished in accordance to the law,” said Burjanadze. Three harassers Ioseb Nanobashvili, Vasiko Munjishvili and Jemal Demetrashvili were detained though soon released under bail. Two years later, the prosecutor’s office signed plea-agreement with them and held trial without informing the victims about it. Vasiko Munjishvili said: “Nugzar Abulashvili did not want a protest rally in front of the office of the National Movement; he called party activists and ordered us to prohibit the rally participants to approach the office. He sent car to us which took us to Anaga where rally participants were gathering. Abulashvili gave us complete freedom of action and guaranteed that nobody would punish us for it. He said the Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili had information about the planned dispersal of the rally who was his friend and nobody would be arrested.”

Omnipresent Deputy

The case concerns the old stamp of Sighnaghi Region Local Government which should have been revoked in 2005. As it turned out, Sighnaghi Region Local Government has not revoked the stamp and uses it for certifying the lease agreements. According to the Office of Prosecutor, in this way, hundreds of hectares of land were alienated according to the corrupted lease agreements by the Governor of Sighnaghi region Berdo Asanishvili, his advisor Mamuka Mangoshvili and several other officials. The information that the member of the Parliament Nugzar Abulashvili has been supervising this process for two years has been confirmed by Berdo Asanishvili during his detainment. “At first Nugzar Abulashvili made us work. Then, when he did not need us, he gave information to the Office of Prosecutor and got us detained,” – stated Asanishvili. The sentence of imprisonment for several years had been passed against them. In 2009, the President pardoned them.

Nugzar Abulashvili was involved in the scrap business. The video has been shown to the correspondent of Kakheti Information Center where Abulashvili requests shares from the people involved in the scrap business: “Abulashvili meets with approximately 10 people. His order is the following: people involved in the business of scarp sale and purchase, must transfer the 30% of the profit to his brother till the end of the month.” Nugzar Abulashvili’s brother was an official of Sighnaghi police.

Davit Martashvili, the former prosecutor of the Sighnaghi Region: “In 2004, in the village Sakobo of Sighnaghi region the fact of the illegal alienation of metal pipes of Sakobo plumbing system has been revealed. I requested the investigation from Sighnaghi regional police. During the investigation the police official came up to me and told me that the pipes had been purchased by the head of Sighnaghi Regional Organization of United Regional Movement, the member of the Parliament Nugzar Abulashvili. He asked me to restrain from investigating to avoid uneasiness. I told him that if Nugzar Abulashvili was conscientious buyer, he would not be imposed with criminal responsibility. The criminal case has been filed on this fact according to the law. Nugzar Abulashvili was informed about it by his allies. He distorted the facts and told the leadership of Kakheti Administration that I was illegally persecuting the members of National Movement. The leadership of the administration gave information to the leadership of the Office of General Prosecutor which considered this circumstance. That is why I was not appointed to the post of the assistant of Gurjaani region prosecutor to which I had been nominated by the regional prosecutor.”

Brother to Brother

On December 11 of 1999, the inspector of Sighnaghi regional department Nodar Abulashvili (Nugzar Abulashvili’s brother) shot 19-year-old Zviad Baghashvili. This case had been under investigation of the Sighnaghi Office of Prosecutor. The case transferred to Telavi regional Office of Prosecutor later. According to the investigation material, Zviad Baghashvili visited Nana Tandilashvili in the town of Tsnori with his friend Davit Naskidashvili. The family members of Nana were displeased with the visit. Grandmother of the family called Nodar Abulashvili from the Tsnori Department of Sighnaghi Police who was a frequent guest of Tandilashvilis, according to the neighbors. According to the testimonies of the witnesses, when the policemen came to the spot, Baghashvili’s car was leaving Tandilashvilis’ house. However, Nodar Abulashvili asked Zviad Baghashvili to come out of the car. Baghashvili did not obey his request. Abulashvili got his gun and shot and killed Baghashvili.

From December 11 of 1999 till April 7 of 2000, the Office of Prosecutor was not considering Nodar Abulashvili guilty. He was charged on April 7 with the offence of remeditated murder without aggravating circumstances and exceeding official powers. The Office of Prosecutor addressed Telavi regional court with the request of preliminary arrest of Abulashvili. On April 8, the court issued the arrest order. However, the judge of investigation department of Tbilisi regional court Iuri Gabisonia, abolished the order of Telavi Court thus gravely violated the procedural norms of the criminal law. Nodar Abulashvili was released from the courtroom. The resolutions on stopping the investigation on Baghashvili murder case had been passed several times. The father of the murdered, Vazha Baghashvili notes that the case had been returned to the renewed investigation by regional and supreme courts five times. But the investigation neglected all the orders of the court. Nodar Abulashvili has been working in the general inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs since the year of 2008.

As a result of parliamentary elections of May 21st of 2008, Nugzar Abulashvili became the PM for the second term.

Nugzar Abulashvili does not comment on any of these issues.

We will tell you about the activity of other majority deputies in the nearest future.