The US inter-department working group met with representatives of a civil society of Georgia.
Lasha Tughushi, editor-in chief of the newspaper “Resonance”, stated after the meeting that the US side had very right position and correct assessment of various issues; they were well- informed about many facts.
‘They know much and have learned much too. I have attended similar meetings but have not heard such frank conversation. Members of the group had most adequate reactions to everything. They tried to find out more about our problems. To tell the truth I had more illusion that democracy was growing in Georgia but after our meeting today I can say that this illusion does not exist any longer,” Tughushi stated.
According to Giorgi Chkheidze, representative of the Young Lawyers Association, he had chance to speak about the independence of judiciary system and human rights situation in Georgia.
“I requested their support to carry out impartial investigation of human rights violations. Of course we spoke about judiciary system and its development. However, particular attention was paid to the media. Representative of media had chance to speak about their problems”, said Giorgi Chkheidze.
Michael H. Posner, the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor is a member of the working group. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Tina Kaidanow is a Co-Chairwoman of the group. John Bass, the US Ambassador to Georgia and other employees of the Embassy also attended the meeting.
Source: Interpressnews