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Address to Remove Top Secret Status from the Cases of Former Political Prisoners Convicted for Espionage

January 26, 2016
 
Human Rights Center requests removal of Top Secret status from the cases of former political prisoners and photo-reporters, who were convicted for alleged espionage.

In January 2013, the former political prisoners were freed from the penitentiary establishments based on the Amnesty Act of the Parliament of Georgia. Among political prisoners are people, charged for espionage, who still unsuccessfully request legal rehabilitation and publishing of their cases.

Human Rights Center believes it is paradox to have people with the status of former political prisoners on the one hand and on the second hand have Top Secret status on their cases.

Human Rights Center believes it is urgently important to review the cases of people, who were convicted on political grounds during previous government and to remove Top Secret status from their cases. In addition to that, there are people, who still do not have the status but their cases were also obvious example of politically motivated persecution.

On December 28, 2012, based on the Article 22 of the Law of Georgia on Amnesty, Vakhtang Maisaya and Bakur Kiguradze, who was sentenced to imprisonment for espionage, were released from prisoner with the status of political prisoner but their cases are still under the Top Secret status. Famous case of photo-reporters is also Top Secret. The latter is more complicated case because the former convicts still do not have status of former political prisoner, because they were freed from imprisonment before the 2013 Amnesty Act.

These people, for many years, have been requesting to remove top secret status from their cases, re-investigation of their charges and legal rehabilitation. 

Unfortunately, the Government has failed to ensure restoration of breached rights of the former political prisoners and former prisoners of conscious – photo-reporters with effective inter-state mechanism and through eradication of serious miscarriages of justice that causes fair astonishment of the former prisoners.

Since 2014, Human Rights Center has been unsuccessfully requesting the Ministry of Internal Affairs to remove top secret status from the cases of Vakhtang Maisaia, Bakur Kiguradze and photo-reporters. The Center has not yet received a response from the MIA.

In January 2015, the Center repeatedly addressed to the State Security Service and MIA to request removal of the top secret status from the cases of former political prisoners but all in vain.

If the relevant authorities will not remove top secret status from the abovementioned cases or give negative answer to the Center, Human Rights Center will appeal to the Court.

Human Rights Center calls on:

The State Security Service and MIA to remove top secret status from the cases of the former political prisoners and photo-reporters convicted for espionage to enable their legal rehabilitation;

The Parliament and Government of Georgia to take measures within their competences with regard to the removal of top secret status from the persons convicted for espionage.

Human Rights Center 

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