“Shoddier Saakashvili and Georgian Democracy Now than before November 7, 2007

Nona Suvarian, Tbilisi

Souhayr Belhassen, president of the Human Rights International Federation FIRH, visited Georgia for the first time to participate in a three-day regional seminar in Tbilisi. The president also met officials from various governmental structures and visited IDPs. In her interview with the www.humanrights.ge Belhassen assessed the human rights situation in Georgia, and the background of the recent events of the Georgian-Russian war in August.

-How do you assess the on-gong situation in Georgia? What information can you share about the current states of human rights in our country?

- It is obvious that within the post war period, the current presidential dictatorship continues to oppress civil society. This regime restricts basic freedoms in the country. November 7, 2007 was the beginning and this day sent shockwaves that could be felt around the world and impacted every human rights defender.

The November 7 protest demonstrates to human right defenders just how civil society goes about protecting the rights of the populace. Despite the fact that the demonstration ended with victims, there was a positive outcome as well: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili decided to resign, at least temporarily. This demonstrated that Georgian society is strong and how it has the ability to achieve its goals. However, the lack of a unified political party that could lead these people still remained the largest problem. In addition, there was a total lack of support on the international level, especially from the United States, and this has led to additional problems. Consequently, the Saakashvili we have now is worse than the one who was in office prior to November 7, 2007. The situation has spun out of control.

Of all the violations, we think that the flawed snap presidential and parliamentary elections of 2008 were the most significant. There was widespread corruption, observers were oppressed, and voters went to the polls in an atmosphere of fear and violence. It was and continues to be totally shameful for the international community that such blatant violations have gone unanswered and this is justified by the lame attempt to claim that there has been even worse elections observed in the past.

Another significant problem is media censorship, and news outlets failing to present the situation in a realistic manner. Moreover, a great deal of attention should be paid to the suppression of human rights defenders who not only had provided much evidence that the elections were rigged, but were also victims of violent acts of intimidation organized from the top.

-Has your organization visited the conflict zone during or after the war? What information do you have about this war, and how do you assess the current situation?

- Our bureau in the Eastern Europe and Eurasia had been warning for a long time that the tensions were escalating. I think that it was through Saakashvili’s activities that Russia was positioned to wage war in the country. However, Russia was also preparing for the war; they were just looking for a reason to enter Georgia. Now, Russia is back in the region as an imperialist state.

As soon as the war started we reacted by distributing press-release where we expressed our condolence and support to peaceful segments of society. We called upon both sides to immediately reach a cease fire agreement. The greatest tragedy for us was the civilian casualties during the war. We fight against injustice and illegality.

Human Rights International Federation has been cooperating with Russian human rights organization “Memorial” for a long time, which released a very interesting report. It is the best organization that one can be relied on in this field. Our office located at Hague actively cooperates with the prosecutor’s office. We introduced the representative of the Memorial to the representative of the Hague International Criminal Court. We expect their cooperation in the near future. “Memorial” will supply the court with all their information. It is very important for us because we think victims of the war have the right to receive justice and compensation.

-We learned that you visited the places where IDPs are compactly residing. What do you make of their living conditions?

- We visited a former Russian military base that is now housing IDPs. It is disparaging situation, and they are living in down right terrible conditions. Moreover, winter is quickly approaching and it is already very cold there. There are no showers or lights; the corridors are very dark. People are surviving largely due to help offered by individuals. During our visit, a businessperson from Azerbaijan was delivering humanitarian aid. I was told that the Georgian government is building houses for IDPs. However, nobody has asked whether or not these people wish to live in those houses. Nobody asks them where they want to go and the IDPs are treated like sheep.

-You met officials from governmental structures too. What was the main topic that you talked about with them?

- We are very much concerned with the issue of political prisoners in Georgia. We discussed the issue with Irina Tintsadze, deputy chairperson of the penitentiary department and Natia Gvazava, the head of the department for international relations within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, it is difficult to determine who is a political prisoner in Georgia.

We wanted to visit political prisoners in prison but we only managed to meet their family members. I talked with a representative of the penitentiary department about Nora Kvitsiani and Maia Topuria, who are essentially two political prisoners. We learned that the conditions they face are normal. In addition, we were told that representatives of the penitentiary department could discuss only living conditions of prisoners but could not discuss whether the charges they are being held under are false or not.

I discussed the problems of the same political prisoners during my meeting with an official from the Internal Ministry. I was told that this topic was not in their [the Ministry’s] competence. The Ministry of Justice was in charge of such kinds of cases. However, we were unable to contact them at the time. We still hold on to hope that both institutions will fulfill their responsibilities and provide answers that are more substantial and helpful than simply: “We do not know anything about it.” 

We were eager to meet high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Justice, but they have not yet agreed to setting-up a meeting. We applied to the Georgian Ambassador to France several times to arrange our meeting with the president’s administration but we have not yet received a reply from them.

-Where and how do you intend to spread the information you have received here?

- We have set up a system that will be put in motion whenever a person is in danger. In such a situation we make use of both national and regional mechanisms. We regularly prepare reports for members of European society and will definitely continue our activities in this sphere.