Source: newspaper “Basta”
Organization “Reporters without Borders” announced March 12 as the “Day for the Freedom of Word” on Internet. The freedom of word needs to be protected in on-line editions too. After the famous events of November 2007 it was evident that the opposition was abused on on-line forums. The photo or video materials of the November 7th crackdown gradually disappeared. Not too long ago, the newspaper “Basta” published an article about internet-censorship. We want to introduce our reader with the same article as well.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs claims the complaints are groundless
After TV stations, governmental officials started to restrict word freedom on the internet too. Former moderators of Georgia’s largest internet-forum forum.ge spread the information. They claim the officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs block all kind of opposition opinions on the forum. More precisely, they stated that after November 7, 2007 the forum administration, as a result of the suppression from the Internal Ministry, fired all moderators who supported opposition parties and appointed new moderators who respected the government. The users of forum.ge, who abandoned it, established a new forum called politforumi.com
The officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs call the accusations groundless and claim they do not have similar information. “My boss is on business leave at the moment and nobody will be able to comment on the situation. The only thing I can say is that the accusations are groundless. It is strange why the ministry should need to take similar measures,” said Maguli Kenchiashvili, Deputy Head of the Ministry Administration in her conversation with the newspaper “Basta”.
“I do not think any kind of discrimination has occurred,” said Temur Khaindrava, administrator of forum.ge. He reported that the political division of the forum is completely controlled by moderators and the administration does not interfere in their activities.
“I will explain to you when the whole situation started,” said former moderator of the forum.ge who said neither his name nor his nickname. “You might remember the TV Station “Kavkasia” spread an audio recording of Vano Merabishvili’s (the Georgian Minister of Internal Affairs) conversation with his Azerbaijan colleague; they were speaking about the purchase of the rubber bullets and tear gas. Before the recording was shown on TV we posted it on forum.ge. By the way, before that a very serious and interesting dispute was going on between the supporters of the government and opposition. As soon as we posted the audio recording, the administrator appealed to the moderators, among them was me, and he ordered to block the topic immediately and delete the recording to prevent people from discussing it.”
“It is fact that the officials from the Internal Ministry influenced the administrator. Under their influence the policy of the forum was changed too. Three moderators of the political division of the forum.ge support Mikehil Saakashvili and block opposition ideas.”
“The audio recording of Vano Merabishvili’s conversation was removed from the forum because posting similar materials on it contradict our statute. The statute of the forum states that we do not have the right to publish the materials without having corresponding permission. It does not make any difference whether it deals with a public official or an ordinary citizen. Vano Merabishvili did not allow us to publish his conversation. We are neither a TV Station nor a newspaper. It is a forum with particular rules and everybody should follow them,” said Temur Khaindrava who added “As for moderators, they were fired because they should follow the rules first of all. One of them breached those rules and abused his power negatively in that tense political situation. Consequently, only one moderator with the nickname “Dimpitauridze” was fired and his support for the opposition parties simply coincided with the situation.”
“Basta”: Thus, the moderator was fired because he breached the rules? Did the Ministry of Internal Affairs not suppress you?
T. Kh. We were as much suppressed as other newspapers in Georgia like you.
“Basta”: Our newspaper was not suppressed at all. At least nobody tried to influence me at all.
T. Kh. I am completely sure that you are not honest in your statement.
Former moderator of forum.ge said that several officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs were registered on the forum who took active part in political debates and it is not excluded that they suppressed the administrator personally. “All users of the forum learned that several of them worked in the ministry and posted letters directly from the Special Operative Department. By the way, they cannot be high ranking officials because their level of education is too low. These people were actively involved in political discussion. Consequently, we suppose that the administrator, who had never interfered in the political division and had no personal interests in the topic, could not have wished to delete the audio recording of Vano Merabishvili’s conversation and ban users to speak about it.
“Our forum could be the first to publish the above-mentioned audio recording in the Georgian media sources; however, unfortunately it was blocked.”
Levan Berdzenishvili, member of the Republic Party and frequent user of internet-forums agrees with the former moderator. He said that the Georgian government puts much effort into controlling the internet and ban all kind of opposition ideas.
Levan Berdzenishvili: “More or less the freedom of word does exist in the internet; though they do not have valid guarantees that it is not controlled by the government. People doubt that like our over-phone conversations, our internet messages are also controlled. That is completely illegal. However, how can we speak about similar problems when our government does not recognize any ethic limits?”
“When governmental structures became interested in the restriction of the freedom of word on forum.ge officials from the Internal Ministry were registered as ordinary citizens on the forum who posted letters directly from the office of the Special Operative Department. Consequently, the forum has become uninteresting for users.”
Levan Berdzenishvili confirms the fact that all moderators who supported opposition parties were fired. “So-called elections were held on forum.ge and those people were elected as moderators who protected Saakashvili’s position. Thus, the government tries to establish its control on internet space too and that is ridiculous.”
“It is very difficult to restrict freedom of word on the internet. They managed to control the political part of the largest and most interesting Georgian forum where our rights were protected. Moderators support the government. However, it must be pointed out that the internet cannot be completely controlled. In addition to that, people who were not satisfied with the level of freedom of word on forum.ge created a new forum called politforumi.com,” said Berdzenishvili.
Member of the Republic Party stated that the government should definitely consider the fact that as soon as political discussion becomes unilateral and uninteresting, the forum will have fewer users. “Governmental officials are not aware that the freedom of word is the most precious for people than the government and opposition altogether.”
A new alternative forum -politforumi.com was created on Georgian on-line space two weeks ago; it was founded by former users and moderators of the forum.ge who were not satisfied with the level of freedom of word on the previous forum. The administration of the new forum reported that they do not complain about few users. Nearly 450 people are currently registered on the forum.
“Our forum, because of its title, stresses on political discussions. We have other topics too but most users visit political division. By the way, it was the idea of the forum.ge’s users, who could not find enough democracy on the forum. They started thinking about a new forum particularly after the November 7, 2007 where they could express their opinions openly.
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