Human Rights in Georgia, February - March 2000: excerpts
Reply-To: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 15:07:54 +0200 (EET)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Subject: Human Rights in Georgia, February - March 2000: excerpts
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Emil Adelkhanov-Steinberg <[email protected]>
Human Rights in Georgia, February - March 2000: excerpts
-------------
>From the moderator: We are very sorry that we received these excellent
monthly publications of the South Caucasian Human Rights Monitor so
late. Nevertheless, we believe that some materials are still of great
interest for those interested in Georgian developments. Because of the
size, we group the texts on bi-monthly basis. The excerpts from the
April, May, June, and July issues will be circulated shortly.
We would like to draw the readers' attention to the information in
March issue about the attempt to bring the case of discrimination on
ethnic grounds before the court - to our knowledge, this is one of the
first attempts to combat racial discrimination by judicial methods in
post-Communist Europe.
Boris
------------
South Caucasian Human Rights Monitor
published by the Caucasian Institute for Peace, Development and
Democracy
with the help of the Winston Foundation for Peace
Editor: Emil Adelkhanov-Steinberg
Part 3
Human Rights in Georgia
February 2000
- Elections
- The post of ombudsman is still vacant
- Religious minorities
- Freedom of press
- Police violence
- In custody
- Hunger strikes in custody
- Social and economic rights
- In and around Abkhazia
- Varia
--------------------------
.......................
Religious minorities
Guram Sharadze, MP accused the director of the AES-Telasi company (the
US-owned electric grid of Tbilisi), Michael Scowly (?), of patronising
Jehovah Witnesses after one of the Witnesses was appointed technical
director of the company. In Sharadze's words, Scowly dismissed
Orthodox Christian personnel of the company and replaced them with
Jehovah Witnesses. In response, the press centre of the company
emphasised that the director did not belong to the sect and none of
the AES-Telasi employees was dismissed or appointed on religious
grounds.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 28, February 8, p. 5, Prime-News agency, "Guram
Sharadze accused the director of the AES-Telasi company of patronising
Jehovah Witnesses"
.......................
In and around Abkhazia
The UN Security Council's February 1 resolution on Abkhazia prolonged
the UNOMIG mandate by six months, till July 2000. The resolution
evaluated the situation in the conflict zone as "insecure" and the
absence of progress in the conflict resolution as "unacceptable".
"Svobodnaya Gruzia" No. 28-29, February 2, p. 1, "The UN Security
Council prolonged the UNOMIG mandate by six months"
The Georgian and Abkhaz law-enforcement officials reached an agreement
on "all-for-all" exchange of hostages and the dead. The agreement is
still to be signed.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 20, February 2, p. 2, Gea news agency, "The Abkhaz
agreed to exchange"
"Today there is a good background to regain Abkhazia by force", Tamaz
Nadareishvili, the chairman of the Tbilisi-based Supreme Council of
Abkhazia, says. The good background, in his opinion, are the NATO
operation in Kosovo and the Russian-Chechen war.
"Shvidi Dge" No. 13, February 2-3, p. 3, Dito Chubinidze, "Today there
is a good background to regain Abkhazia by force"
A delegation of the Georgian force ministers led by Vazha
Lortkipanidze, the state minister, visited Sukhumi on February 3-4.
After his t�te-�-t�te talks with Vladislav Ardzinba, he said the
Abkhaz leadership warned him that "some forces" might attempt a
provocation in Abkhazia on the eve of the presidential elections in
Georgia (April 2000). The problems of repatriation of refugees and
"all-for-all" exchange of hostages and dead bodies were also on the
table. In Lortkipanidze's words, Ardzinba invited Shevardnadze to
Sukhumi.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 22, February 4, p. 1, Gea news agency, "The meeting
in Sukhumi"
After the January 25 incident (three Abkhaz killed and two arrested by
the Georgian police) the Abkhaz deployed additional forces in the Gali
district of Abkhazia and blocked the Enguri bridge. Murman Kedia, the
head of the district administration, explained these measures by a
rising crime rate in the region: seven Abkhaz have recently been
killed in the conflict zone. Many Georgians fled the district for fear
of revenge.
"Akhali Taoba" No. 33, February 4, p. 5, Tamara Absava, "The traffic
along the Enguri bridge blocked"
Three Georgian hostages, Shengelia, Djikia and Basaria, were released
as a result of the Georgian-Abkhaz agreement on hostage exchange
(signed when the Georgian delegation visited Sukhumi on February 3-4).
"Svobodnaya Gruzia" No. 34-35, February 8, p. 1, Prime-News agency,
"Hostages released"
Following the February 3-4 agreement on hostage exchange, the Georgian
side passed the bodies of the three Abkhaz killed near the Enguri
bridge on January 25, to Abkhaz authorities. It somewhat eased the
tensions: some of the Abkhaz gunmen, which had threatened local
Georgians with punitive operation if the agreement was broken,
withdrew from the Gali district of Abkhazia. The rest of them continue
to control some fords and ferries at the Enguri River.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 27, February 10, p. 2, Gea news agency, "Pitsunda
militants re-deployed"
Although the hostage exchange began, the relatives of the Georgians
imprisoned in Abkhazia (Lashkhia, Antia and Kardava) keep on picketing
the Enguri bridge. They demand to include the three into the exchange
list. Meanwhile, Ashkhatsava (wounded at the Enguri bridge on January
25) was conveyed from Zugdidi to the central prison hospital in
Tbilisi. He is charged with kidnapping (Article 133 of the Criminal
Code).
"Akhali Taoba" No. 39, February 10, p. 5, Ada Marsagova, "Abkhaz
militant conveyed to the central prison hospital"
The Abkhaz authorities released one more Georgian hostage, Gocha
Zarandia, on February 14. Several others are still in captivity: Gela
Zarandia (Gocha Zarandia's brother), an army officer Mamuka Leladze,
spouses Indiko and Sveta Kardava, Duda Kakabadze and his son Lado,
Shukri Lashkhia and Ghia Kardava. For their part, the Georgians keep
detaining two Abkhaz hostages arrested in the Zugdidi district on
January 26.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 31, February 15, p. 2, Prime-News agency, "The
Abkhaz freed one more hostage"
The Tbilisi-based Abkhaz government denounced a recent Abkhaz-Georgian
meeting in Vienna with participation of officials and representatives
of NGOs. Tamaz Nadareishvili, the chairman of the Tbilisi-based
Supreme Council of Abkhazia, said some members of the Abkhaz
delegation were to blame for the genocide of the Georgians in
Abkhazia, while some Georgian interlocutors supported independence of
Abkhazia. He blamed the organisers of the meeting, as well the State
Chancellery and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for irresponsibility. The
Abkhaz government in exile is going to send a protest note to the
Georgian embassy in Austria.
"Akhali Taoba" No. 44, February 15, p. 9, Shorena Marsagishvili,
"Tamaz Nadareishvili "dismissed" from the Abkhaz-Georgian talks"
Relatives of George Kardava and Shukri Lashkhia, who were arrested by
the Abkhaz during the May 1998 fighting in the Gali district of
Abkhazia and sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment each, gave up
picketing the Enguri bridge on February 19. However, despite the joint
efforts of the Abkhaz and Georgian officials, the process of hostage
exchange is delayed as Kardava's and Lashkhia's families hold captive
two Abkhaz hostages - a 19-year-old Rudik Pachulia and 21-year-old
Beslan Shinkub. For their part, the Abkhaz declined to free eight
Georgian hostages (including Kardava and Lashkhia) unless Pachulia,
Shinkub and two other Abkhaz hostages, Ashkhatsava and Vanacha
arrested after a January gunfire near the Enguri river. Just these
conditions are stipulated by the Georgian-Abkhaz protocol on hostage
exchange. At the first stage, three Georgian POWs, Djikia, Shengelia
and Zarandia, had been exchanged for the bodies of the Abkhaz killed
during the gunfire.
"Droni" No. 20, February 22, p. 7, Nana Mamagulashvili, "The
Georgian-Abkhaz barter: dead for dead, alive for alive"
Thanks to mediation of Dieter Boden, the UN envoy to Georgia, David
Maisuradze, the president of the NGO of the Sport Federation of
Invalids, was able to visit Sukhumi on February 22 together with some
members of the federation and Georgian journalists. They met the
president and members of one of the invalid associations and delivered
an aid: medicines, invalid carriages and crutches. The Georgian and
Abkhaz invalids agreed to co-operate in joint projects.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 39, February 24, p. 5, Inga Mosiashvili, "The ice
broken - the Sukhumi and Tbilisi invalids to co-operate with each
other"
Tamila Shanava, a 75-year-old woman, resident of the Gali district of
Abkhazia, was raped and killed by two Russian peacekeepers of the
Chuburgini garrison. The command of the Russian peacekeeping force
claimed that after the incident one of them committed suicide, while
the other fled.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 39, February 24, p. 2, Kavkaz-Press agency,
"Details unveiled"
In his letter to the UN Secretary General Vladislav Ardzinba, the
Abkhaz leader, protested that a proposed plan of the political status
of Abkhazia was not officially notified to the Abkhaz government. At
the same time, he insisted: "We are ready to consider only one issue:
relations between two sovereign states - Abkhazia and Georgia".
"Akhali Taoba" No. 53, February 24, p. 3, Gea news agency, "Ardzinba
vs. any status"
.......................
The Repatriation Service of the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation
is developing a bill on rehabilitation and naturalization of the
Muslim Meskhetians deported to the Central Asia in 1944 and their
descendants. According to Guram Mamulia, the head of the service, the
bill will be examined by the government and the parliament after the
presidential elections. He says that 667 Muslim Meskhetians have
already returned to Georgia; a hundred of them have not been granted
Georgian citizenship so far.
"7 Dge" No. 23, February 28-29, p. 2, Prime-News agency, "The problem
of Muslim Meskhetians to be solved after the elections"
-------------------------------
March 2000
- On the eve of presidential elections
- An Ossetian complains: discrimination on ethnic grounds
- Zviadists complain
- Chechens complain
- Pensioners complain: social and economic rights
- Freedom of press
- Freedom of religion
- Emprisonment conditions
- The trial of Gurab Absandze et al.
- Political prisoners on hunger strike
- In and about Abkhazia
- Varia
-----------------------
.......................
Discrimination on ethnic grounds
Zoya Kodalova is one of the seven teachers of Secondary School No. 1
of the town of Kareli (Ms Nina Gubayeva, Ms Ruizan Pilishvili and
others), who were fired for "being of Ossetian origins and having an
Ossetian family" on 4 March, 1991, when the Georgian-Ossetian conflict
was at its height. Like many other Ossetians, she had to emigrate from
Georgia after that. After coming back in 1998, she brought a lawsuit
demanding to restore her in office. The Kareli district court turned
away her application, claiming that the legal deadline had expired; so
did the Supreme Court. (According to the law, such actions should be
brought within a month after a dismissal; in case of a justifiable
reason, the period of protest may, however, be restored by a court.)
In answer to a protest of the supervision commission, the Supreme
Court resolved that the unseemly record of the reason of her dismissal
must be changed, but did not restore her in office. She appealed to
the Supreme Court Board, but it turned away her appeal, pleading the
expired deadline. (At the time, the board was presided by Mr Mindia
Ugrekhelidze, who soon became a member of the Strasbourg international
court. - CIPDD)
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 56, March 15, p. 7, Besik Kurtanidze, "The Ossetian
Schindler's list"
.......................
Chechens complain
A Chechen, Lioma Akhmedov, who is indicted for banknote forgery, has
been on hunger strike for a month in Preventive Detention Ward No 1.
His case was first tried in the Krtzanisi district court of Tbilisi.
Now it is being examined by the Tbilisi regional court. The other day
Elena Tevdoradze, the chair person of the parliamentary human rights
committee, visited him in prison. She cited him as saying that the
police had confiscated his $4,500 and found two forged banknotes among
them. He says he does not trust his interpreter (his trial is carried
out in Georgian, the language that he does not understand). Tevdoradze
is going to apply to the regional court and find out why the trial is
dragged out (the last hearing was carried out on 5 January). She will
also ask Chechnya's spokesman in Georgia to provide Akhmedov with a
good interpreter.
"Shvidi Dge" No. 27, March 8-9, p. 6, "An imprisoned Chechen accusing
the Georgian police of injustice"
According to Seidamin Ibragimov of the Chechen International Human
Rights Committee, 62 Chechens who tried to start a peace march to
Azerbaijan were blocked by the Georgian police and security forces
near the village of Matiani, Akhmeta district, on 14 March. One of
them was beaten, he says. When asked, Hizri Aldamov, Chechnya's
representative in Georgia, said the action had not been co-ordinated
with the Georgian authorities and, therefore, could not be considered
legal.
"Dilis Gazeti" No. 56, April 15, p. 2, Iprinda news agency, "Illegal
peace march blocked near Matiani"
The police and security officers blocked 60 Chechen refugees near
Lagodekhi late at night on March 27 when they attempted at a peace
march to Azerbaijan and forced them back to the Pankisi Valley (an
area along the Chechen sector of the Russian-Georgian border which is
currently dominated by Chechen refugees).
"Shvidi Dge" No. 27, March 27-28, p. 3, Brief news
.......................
In and about Abkhazia
Alexander Rusetsky, co-ordinator of the Georgian branch of Helsinki
Citizens' Assembly, published his book "From Ethnic Centrism to a
National Idea" with his views of the prospects of the settlement of
the Abkhazian problem.
"Akhali Taoba" No. 61, March 3, p. 9, Zaza Bakashvili, "Five levels of
the Abkhaz conflict"
A joint investigation group was created to investigate acts of
terrorism and other crimes in the conflict zone of Abkhazia. The group
is made up of Georgian and Abkhaz law-enforcement officials and
Russian peacekeepers.
"Shvidi Dge" No. 26, March 6-7, p. 2, Brief news
Three Georgian prisoners were shot to death by Ozbak Kamkia, a guard
of the Dranda prison (Abkhazia). The interior ministry of the
self-proclaimed Abkhaz republic says they were killed when attempting
to escape.
"Kviris Palitra" No. 11, March 13-19, p. 2, Kavkaz-Press agency,
"Three Georgians executed in the Dranda prison"
The book "The Caucasus is not the original homeland of the Georgians"
by Igor Marikhuba, an Abkhaz scholar, has been issued by the
publishing house "Alashara" in Sukhumi: the problem of "guests" and
"hosts" is still discussed.
"Akhali Taoba" No. 386, March 28, p. 3, "The Georgians did not live in
the Caucasus"
In one of his interviews with Abkhaz Press Rafail Mindjia, a
high-ranking security officer of the self-proclaimed Abkhaz republic,
claimed the activities of Jehovah Witnesses to be a form of
ideological subversion inspired by Georgian secret services which, in
his words, aim to restore the Georgian jurisdiction in Abkhazia after
it is disarmed by Jehovah Witnesses. On October 10, 1995, Vladislav
Ardzinba, the Abkhaz president, ordered to outlaw Jehovah Witnesses in
Abkhazia. However, the sect continue functioning in secrecy, is
steadily increasing in numbers and includes "even some close relatives
of Abkhaz soldiers lost in the Abkhaz Patriotic War".
"Akhali Taoba" No. 89, March 31, p. 5, Gea news agency, "Ardzinba
concerned with Jehovah Witnesses"
Varia
According to the newspaper, Georgian investigators have enough
evidence that the January 1999 defilement of the Jewish Cemetery of
Tbilisi was committed by soldiers of a Russian military unit which is
deployed near the spot. However, the Georgian government preferred to
hush up the scandal for political reasons.
"Droni" No. 37, March 7-8, p. 5, Nana Vasadze, "A hushed up political
scandal"
--
==============================================================
MINELRES - a forum for discussion on minorities in Central&Eastern
Europe
Submissions: [email protected]
Subscription/inquiries: [email protected]
List archive: http://www.riga.lv/minelres/archive.htm
==============================================================