Political Prisoners and Restrictions on Media Freedom in Georgia - US State Department Report

US State Department on Georgia

The US State Department has published a report on the state of human rights in Georgia in 2022. It talks about the existence of political prisoners in the country such as Nika Gvaramia, director of the opposition TV company Mtavari Arkhi, as well as torture, inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners, in particular of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.

“The failure of the government to punish the organizers of July 5 [when an anti-LGBT rally took place] led to impunity for the manifestation of violence.”

Case of Nika Gvaramia

The report states that the Public Defender’s Office, local civil society and international human rights organizations have criticized the Tbilisi City Court’s May 16 decision, which sentenced opposition TV channel director Nika Gvaramia to three and a half years in prison for causing financial damage to Rustavi TV. -2.

The White House, citing Amnesty International, writes that Gvaramia’s case has revealed the “growing influence of the government on the courts in a number of cases” aimed at suppressing critics and opponents.

The report also mentions that the Ombudsman and NGOs regard Gvaramia’s case as political persecution. Journalists, NGOs and the international community have expressed serious concern about the failure of the Georgian government to respect freedom of speech.

“The sentence on Nika Gvaramia is perceived as a warning and a threat to other independent media to stop critically covering the activities of the government and refrain from publishing facts that are undesirable for the government,” the report says.

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Mikhail Saakashvili

The part of the report that mentions torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners refers to the arrest of ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. His health condition has deteriorated significantly and it is extremely important to provide him with timely medical assistance in accordance with the recommendations developed by a group of doctors in 2021.

The State Department, citing the prosecutor’s office, writes that the Ministry of Justice and the Special Penitentiary Service violated the law on data protection by publishing several videos featuring Saakashvili, who is in the clinic.

“The State Department quotes the Ombudsman: “According to the standard set by the European Court of Human Rights, the lack of timely, complete and adequate treatment, accurate diagnosis and proper medical care can amount to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention on Human Rights, which relates to torture, inhuman and / or degrading treatment.”

The document emphasizes that Georgian opposition parties consider Saakashvili a political prisoner.

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July 5, 2021

The US State Department document also states that the government left unpunished criminals who participated in violence against representatives of the media and public organizations.

“The government has taken steps to investigate human rights violations by some officials, but impunity nevertheless remains a problem. The failure of the government to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the violence on the date of the March of Dignity as part of LGBT Pride in July 2021 led to impunity for these atrocities,” the report says.

It also cites the Public Defender of Georgia, civil society representatives and international partners who believe that the government failed to properly investigate the violent events of July 5, 2021.

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Freedom of media

A separate chapter of the report is devoted to “serious restrictions” on media freedom in Georgia, including violence and threats against journalists, citing the case of former Defense Minister and founder of Formula TV David Kezerashvili.

The State Department believes that government irresponsibility is also reflected in the police’s use of disproportionate force against journalists and protesters during demonstrations in June 2019 and in the 2017 kidnapping case of Azerbaijani journalist and activist Afgan Mukhtarli in Tbilisi.

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Occupied territories

The document refers to the legal status of citizens in the occupied regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and Tskhinvali – and says that “Russia and the de facto authorities of these territories committed violent crimes there with impunity.”