The Harsh Reality in Georgia

NINO BURJANADZE

Readers more familiar with developments in Georgia might feel that the Aug. 6 op-ed by President Mikheil Saakashvili ["Georgia, on the Rebound"] was a case of yet again saying one thing in the West, while doing the opposite at home.

Possibly while the president was writing his column, which spoke of "deeper democratic reforms," men in uniforms kidnapped and assaulted some of my party supporters and subjected them to horrific beatings, using electric shocks and batons and even shooting them with plastic bullets. This came just days after Vice President Biden visited our country.

This was not an isolated incident. Masked men have beaten and shot at protesters for months, and there is now no one in the opposition who doesn't know someone who has been attacked either in the streets or in his own home. But you don't have to just take my word against Mr. Saakashvili's. The U.S. think tank Freedom House said recently that Georgia's democracy was not deepening, but slipping.

Georgia's security is important, but no real stability can be achieved at the expense of democracy. Our best defense against both external and internal challenges is a true democracy, not an imagined one.

Chairman

Democratic Movement United Georgia

Tbilisi, Georgia