Public Defender Echoes Incidents Occurring during Vote Counting
According to information provided by the Public Defender's election monitors, incidents occurred in some regions of Georgia during counting of votes in polling stations, as a result of which, some individuals were affected and property was damaged. Physical confrontation took place on the territory of Kutaisi’s No 90 polling station; some persons were affected. Unknown individuals broke into the 79th and 108th polling stations in the village of Jikhashkari, Zugdidi. Polling stations were vandalized, equipments were damaged, ballot boxes were broken, several people were affected, including local and international observers; a large number of supporters of the United National Movement and the Georgian Dream started to mobilize near the Marneuli district commission that includes danger that clashes may take between them. Ballots were brought to the yard of Marneuli district election commission from local polling stations that are under threat of being damaged. Supporters of the same parties are being mobilized near Batumi’s 1st polling station and there is danger of confrontation.
I appeal to the representatives of election entities and political parties to do everything to maintain peace; to urge their supporters to refrain from violence and not to forget that the state interests are more important than any political interest.
I appeal to the police: the state is responsible for the protection of safety of citizens of Georgia and all persons on the territory of Georgia; the police are obliged to ensure safety of every person, investigate each case of violence and bring offenders to justice. I call on the law enforcement agencies not to leave reports about any possible confrontation without attention, to respond immediately to any incident and take all possible preventive measures to avoid violence.
It should be noted that the Government has a primary responsibility for the conduct of peaceful elections. Ineffective response to the incidents of Zugdidi, Kortskheli and Didinedzi in the recent period may be one of the causes for the wave of violent acts that are taking place tonight. Similar information casts a shadow on the overall election process. Prevention of future, greater damage will be possible only if the law enforcement system manages to defuse tension at the very beginning and ensure adequate and fastest response to the occurring incidents.
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Koka Katsitadze Hosted The Public Defender And The Delegation Of Turkmenistan
The head of the Special Investigation Service, Koka Katsitadze and his deputy, Natia Songhulashvili, met with the Public Defender and the delegation of Turkmenistan.
The head of the Special Investigation Service, Koka Katsitadze, informed the delegation about the activities and ongoing reforms within the framework of the extended mandate of the Service.
At the meeting, the cooperation of the independent investigation service withthe Public Defender Office was highlighted.
The Georgian side shared the detailed positive cooperation experience of the Special Investigation Service with the Ombudsman Office of Georgia to effectively perform the functions of the National Prevention Mechanism (NPM).
Mr.Nikoloz Darchashvili- the head of the Investigation Department of Special Investigation Service, Ms. Yazdursun Gurbannazarova - Ombudsperson of Turkmenistan, Mr. Yazguly Agabayev - Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan, Mr. Yusupguly Eshayev - Head of the Human rights and freedom protection committee of Mejlis of Turkmenistan, Mr. Amanmyrat Kerimov - Senior prosecutor of International relations department of the General Prosecutor's Office of Turkmenistan; Mr. Magtymguly Hojamyradov - Assistant of Ombudsperson of Turkmenistan; Ms.Bagul Kerimova - Attache of International Organizations Department, MFA of Turkmenistan attended the meeting.
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Air Astana switches to summer schedule!
According to the administration of the Air Astana, company Air Astana has switched to its 2023 spring-summer schedule.
From the summer period, the flights between Tbilisi and Almaty will be operated daily.
As of June starts a seasonal service between Batumi and Almaty 5 times a week and Tbilisi-Astana 3 times a week on a comfortable Airbus A320/A321.
"Air Astana has switched to a spring-summer operating schedule effective from 26th March to 29th October 2023and during this period will steadily increase the number of international flights.
Services from Almaty to Antalya (Turkey) will be increased to ten flights a week, whilst those from Astana will increase to seven services a week. Almaty to Tbilisi (Georgia) services will be increased by seven flights a week, those from Astana to Tbilisi increased by three flights a week. Almaty to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) up to fourteen flights a week and Astana-Tashkent to five flights a week. Almaty to London service will be increased up to five times a week, and Almaty to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to nine flights a week. In addition to a weekly flight to Chengdu, Air Astana will serve Beijing daily from Almaty and up to twice a week from Astana. Almaty to Istanbul will be served eleven flights a week, whilst those from Astana up to seven flights a week and from Atyrau three flights a week. Services from Almaty to Baku (Azerbaijan) and Dushanbe (Tajikistan) will be increased to up to four flights per week.
The spring-summer operating schedule also includes the relaunch of seasonal services between Almaty to Bodrum (Turkey) and Heraklion (Greece), as well as those from Almaty and Astana to Podgorica (Montenegro), operating three times a week, and from Almaty to Batumi (Georgia) operating five times a week. Air Astana will also continue operating direct daily flights to Thailand with three times a week flights from Almaty to Bangkok and four times to Phuket.
Detailed flight schedule information and ticket purchase can be undertaken at the Air Astana website, ticketing offices, call-center and IATA accredited travel agencies" - reported in a company press release.
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On March 19, 2023, Public Defender Levan Ioseliani visited third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili and 13 other prisoners who are also being treated at the VivaMedi clinic.
"The former president and I talked for almost an hour on various topics.
Since I am not a doctor and do not have the relevant qualifications, I will not go into the details of his medical condition, which is the competence of specialists.
However, I confirmed to him that all the monitoring mechanisms that the Public Defender has, including the medical council, would be maintained and that I would not hamper the process. I also told him that the Public Defender would continue to supervise his health within the scope of his mandate.
Of course, the condition of other prisoners being treated in this clinic is also important. They also have specific needs, which will be studied in more detail by the Public Defender's representatives in the future.
I wish all the prisoners to have good health and to be released soon", said the Public Defender.
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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is committing new funds to address solid waste treatment issues in Batumi and the wider Adjara region in Georgia. A sovereign loan of up to €19 million for Adjara Waste Management Company will help tackle some of the most pressing environmental challenges faced by the tourist region’s inhabitants and visitors.
The first committed tranche of up to €3 million will be used to purchase new solid waste management equipment. This will enable the borrower to start new landfill operations and, consequently, stop waste being disposed of at the current non-European Union (EU) compliant dumpsites. The second uncommitted tranche of up to €16 million will be used to build a new waste treatment plant, allowing the company to recover recyclables and divert waste sent to the new sanitary landfill.
The investment will address the priority needs of Batumi and the wider Adjara region. This includes stopping the disposal of waste at existing dumpsites in Kobuleti and Batumi, with the latter being the largest and most dangerous polluter in Georgia. “These dumpsites are active sources of land, water and air pollution, impacting the ecosystem of the region in particular, and the Black Sea in general,” says EBRD.
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The Public Defender of Georgia Levan Ioseliani and his authorized persons were continuously monitoring the rallies held on March 7-9 against the draft laws initiated by People's Power in the Parliament of Georgia. The Public Defender and employees of the Public Defender’s Office made visits to various divisions, departments and temporary detention centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to meet the persons detained during the rallies.
The Public Defender of Georgia emphasizes that freedom of peaceful assembly is enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia. According to the definition of the UN Human Rights Committee, "violence" implies the use of physical force by participants against others that is likely to result in injury or death, or serious damage to property.[1] Accordingly, according to the Committee, mere pushing and shoving do not amount to “violence”.[2] At the same time, it is important that verbal or physical acts of aggression or violence by an individual or a small number of people does not remove the right of those who continue to act in a peaceful manner.[3] In similar cases, any intervention should aim to deal with the particular individuals involved rather than dispersing the entire event.[4]
Based on the mentioned international standards, continuous monitoring and the information and video recordings released by the media, the Public Defender of Georgia is presenting his evaluations to the public:
On the evening of March 7, the situation became tense after some of the participants in the assembly tried to approach one of the entrances to the Parliament building, the road to which was blocked by the law enforcement officers. This was followed by a statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the assembly became violent, that there was an attempt to block one of the Parliament entrances and that there were incidents of violence against the employees of the Ministry. Soon, a small part of citizens moved towards the second entrance. Clashes occurred at both locations.
According to the Public Defender's assessment, at the time of the warning made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in the evening hours of March 7, 2023, the assembly had a peaceful character and there was no reason to terminate it or use force against it. As for the cases of violence by individual participants in the rally, if there were any, individual - necessary and proportionate measures should have been taken against them. Contrary to this, the law enforcement officers started using special equipment against the participants in the assembly, including peaceful demonstrators, which contradicts the standard of necessary and proportionate interference with the right.
The violent actions started by individual participants in the assembly at the Parliament’s back entrance became the basis for the unjustified termination of the assembly with the use of force by the law enforcement officers on March 8. After some of the participants started breaking the windows and damaging the Parliament building at the back entrance, the police took appropriate actions, although the said use of force continued in a completely illegitimate manner against the peaceful participants in the assembly standing in front of the Parliament of Georgia.
It should also be noted that, in both cases, and especially after the first use of force in the night hours of March 8, the situation became tense several times and special equipment were repeatedly used against the participants in the assembly, including when there was no such necessity. According to the Public Defender's assessment, unjustified cases of the use of force in a similar situation always contribute to the artificial escalation of the situation, which law enforcement officers are obliged to prevent.
The media footage shows cases when special equipment was used against the participants in the rally without any reason, including by targeting their faces, when they just approached police officers peacefully. This clearly represents a criminal act. Several video materials released by the media clearly show gross physical violence against citizens.
As a result of the measures used by the law enforcement officers in order to manage the rallies, media representatives were also injured. Information was spread about interference with their activities,[5] whereas, legislation puts them under special protection during assemblies.[6]
At the same time, before and during the termination of the assembly, the law enforcement officers actively resorted to the practice of mass detention of demonstrators in an administrative manner. The relevant footage makes it clear that in some cases, the above was not a measure against the existing offence, therefore, it failed to meet the requirement of necessity and had the form of an unjustified interference with the right.
On March 7-9, the Public Defender and his authorized persons visited various divisions, departments and temporary detention centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and met 96 detainees. The authorized persons worked intensively not only in Tbilisi, but also in the regions in order to visit the detainees. At the same time, several detained persons appealed to the Office with a request to study the legality of their detention.
The detainees indicated harsh forms of detention and in some cases, injuries. In relating to several detainees, with their own wish and consent, the Public Defender’s Office immediately applied to the Special Investigation Service with a request to start an investigation.
The case of Zurab Japaridze is particularly noteworthy. According to him and one of the witnesses, several representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs physically assaulted him. He was beaten with hands, feet and batons, as a result of which he sustained multiple injuries in the head and neck area, as well as in the wrist area.
In addition, according to the reports, in a number of cases, family members and lawyers of the detained persons, could not get information about the whereabouts of the detainees, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not provide the relevant information. Several Persons applied to the Public Defender’s Office for help. The above violates the detainees' right of defence, as they were not given the opportunity to meet with lawyers on time or develop a defence strategy.
The Public Defender’s Office will continue to study the cases of persons detained at the rallies. In addition, he will monitor the investigation launched by the Special Investigation Service into the ill-treatment of persons. The Public Defender calls on the investigative agencies to conduct an effective investigation into the use of disproportionate force, as well as the damages suffered by representatives of the media.
