The purpose of the document prepared by GDI is to provide a brief overview of the problems and challenges associated with the protection of human rights and freedoms in Georgia in 2020. The document discusses issues related to civil and political rights, as well as questions on the concept of rule of law.
Individual cases and events that show the will of the government on the one hand and the ability to fulfill constitutional obligations on the other, are some of the best measures able to show the extent of the protection of constitutional rights and the rule of law. A large part of this document is devoted to the review of these individual cases/events.
Escalation of the political and economic crisis in Georgia in 2020 and the growing wave of protests further highlighted the problems that exist in the country in terms of protection of freedom of assembly and demonstration. If on November 8 authorities did not comply with the requirements of the Law of Georgia on Police and used disproportionate measures during the dispersal of crowds with the water cannon at the CEC building, November 9 protesters were prevented from exercising their freedom of assembly as police has deprived them of firewood. At the November 28 rally, authorities continued to resort to arbitrary administrative detention, and on November 14, a peaceful rally in the village of Zhoneti was violently dispersed, when the better response would have been intiating constructive dialogue with locals.
Protection of freedom of expression and media continued to be a challenge in 2020. GDI has been monitoring developments at Adjara TV and Radio of the Public Broadcaster for more than a year. Number of circumstances in 2020 have raised suspicions that these processes are politically motivated and are aimed at disrupting TV/radio channel's independent editorial policy. In terms of governmental interferences in the field of media some of the following events are particularly noteworthy, namely: investigation over alleged sabotage launched by the state security services on the news story aired by the “Mtavari Channel”, possible threats against the father of the founder of the “TV Pirveli” and legislative amendments made to the Code of the Rights of the Child and the Law on Broadcasting, which disproportionately restricted freedom of expression and are contrary to the Constitution of Georgia.
As for the protection of freedom of movement, it should be noted that GDI plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court against the regulations introduced on September 2, 2020, which unconstitutionally restricts Georgian citizens from leaving Georgia for the purposes of entering the Schengen area.
The most important political event of 2020 was October 31 parliamentary elections, which was held with serious shortcomings. This document briefly reviews irregularities that occurred during the October 31 elections, as well as the problems identified during the review of the complaints at the district election commissions and the court. Unfortunately, due to the nature and the scale of irregularities, these elections have significantly pushed the country backward in terms of its democratic development and created a severe political crisis, which in itself is detrimental to the interests of the country.
Georgia still faces significant challenges in terms of protecting the right to equality and freedom of religion. The transfer of forests by the government to the Georgian Patriarchate under the state of emergency has once again proved that government views it as its priority to obtain political benefits by granting privileges to the Patriarchate. Establishing an exception to the curfew, only on the nights of January 6-7 (Christmas), it became clear that Georgian government does not consider religious minorities to be on par with the majority. As for the right to equality, the processes surrounding the restoration of the Nariman Narimanov monument are also noteworthy. In this case the government has failed to initiate any effective steps aimed at preventing further aggravation. What is especially troubling is that xenophobic statements have increased during the pandemic.
This paper briefly reviews pandemic regulations, the review and analysis of which is presented in detail in a study prepared by the GDI and its partner NGOs. However, a significant portion of the document is devoted to the noticeable decline in the effectiveness of the constitutional control in Georgia in 2020 and challenges to the right to a fair trial.
It is alarming that instead of having the government release the political prisoner Giorgi Rurua, in 2020 we saw new political prisoners - Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilychova. In addition, reasonable doubts connected with the political motives for the arrest of Akaki Khuskivadze and Akaki Kobaladze exist in the case of the death of the chairman of the Isani District Election Commission. High-profile cases of 2020 have once again shown that significant problems in the investigative bodies persist with regard to the crime prevention and its thorough and effective investigation.
As a result, we can conclude that in recent years there has been a sharp deterioration in the field of human rights protection. Irregularities identified in 2020 are a sad continuation of this trend, further alienating us from the ideal of a modern democratic state and the possibility of achieving prosperity.
We hope that this document will help understand the problems of human rights protection and the rule of law in Georgia, which in itself is a necessary precondition for resolving them.
