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NGOs Accuse Government of Poor Attitude Towards The International Criminal Court

April 4, 2006

NGOs Accuse Government of Poor Attitude Towards The International Criminal Court

Tbilisi, 03.04.06, ‘Media News’ – ‘The Coalition for the International Criminal Court’ held a press conference in the International ‘News-Georgia’ press-centre. The theme of the press-conference was ‘The Hague International Criminal Court as an international legal mechanism to investigate crimes in Abkhazia’. It was conducted by the Director of the ‘International Centre for Conflicts and Negotiation (ICCN)’, Gogi Khutsishvili, the head of ‘Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA)’ Ann Dolidze, the coordinator of the Coalition, Shorena Lortkipanidze, and a representative of the ‘International Criminal Code Research Centre’, Nodar Topuridze. 

According to the above, the legal basis of the International Criminal Court is the Rome Statute, which was approved on the 1st of July 2002. Georgia ratified the statute in the autumn of 2003. Genocide, military criminals, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity are all mentioned in the jurisprudence of the Court.

According to Ann Dolidze, Georgia has ratified this statute; however the government is not paying enough attention to the Court. The Georgian delegate has only attended one meeting out of the four annual gatherings organized.

Representatives of Georgian NGOs call upon Abkhaz non-governmental organizations to join the coalition, as both sides are interested in protecting Human Rights in Abkhazia.

“We have information that Paata Davitaia and others have data of crimes committed in Abkhazia before and after 2003. We think that such people should cooperate with The Hague International Criminal Court, to understand the real picture of what is happening in Abkhazia. It is also important that the conclusions be determined by a neutral body like The Hague International Criminal Court,” declared Dolidze.

NGOs think that the Georgian Government is not submitting information it has about crimes committed in Abkhazia to the International Criminal Court and if this continues, NGOs will make such information available themselves.

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