People Flee From Georgia and Norway Is Also Guilty In It

Ragnar Scre
www.aftenpost.no 

In 2004, Bondevik’s second cabinet sent experts to Georgia to assist the country in the reforms of judiciary system. Their aim was to create and establish the Rule of Law in Georgia.

It means both executive and legislative authorities shall obey the law and if they breach the law, they should feel themselves accountable before everybody. However, it turned up difficult for them to practically implement their obligations. They encountered particular obstacles in this post-soviet country.

Although they could not achieve their goals, we should at least speak about their achievements in this field. However, the abovementioned Norwegian project, with the title NorLag and which costs 10 million Krone for the Norwegian government per year, neither conducts corresponding researches nor has plan (schedule) of their achievements.

Confusing Evidence

Relying on their evaluations and reports, the project is implemented successfully. However, the reality is very confusing. In 2009, the Scanteam’s report presented at the seminars did not reflect the reality of the country. And what is the real situation in the country? If you are suspected of crime, you shall either plead guilty or you will be judged by all means. Non-guilty verdicts make only 0, 1 % of total judgments in the country. In order to get less severe punishment, most suspects have to plead guilty. Very often, the police provoke the crime and case materials contain the evidence obtained under physical or psychological oppression.  In case of murder or organized swindle, the police video-records the confession statement of the suspects and then aired on TV that evening.

So, everything happens before detainees meet their lawyers. Those 0, 1 % of people who were found non-guilty, state that judges could not act independently. It is the failure of the Norwegian project. It is evident that they could not achieve their goals. Social researches showed that people have less trust to the judiciary system than to politicians and media. However, everything should be vice versa.

Political Prisoners

In 2009, members of the International Federation for Human Rights arrived in Tbilisi to study eight cases about alleged political prisoners. According to the final conclusion, all of them were really politically motivated prisoners. Despite the visit of Norwegian advisors, Georgia was among those countries where percentage of prisoners significantly increased. Norwegian experts did much good; with their effort, many prisoners serve their terms outside custodies but it cannot change the situation.

Torture

Reportedly, inmates are tortured in Georgian prisons. Many prisoners sent applications to the European Courts of Human Rights and informed it about similar facts. The new law, which prohibits prisoners to send letters and have rendezvous for the next three months for any “bad behavior”, was already approved. Many people think the law was drafted in order to prevent prisoners from sending applications to the European Court. Before the law was put in force, the tariff for sending applications to the ECHR was incredibly high (1 000 Krone). Several prisoners were even physically abused. One group of prisoners, who sent applications to the Strasbourg Court last September, said they were ruthlessly beaten in the custody.

The minister, who occupied the position two years ago, is at least formally responsible for similar fact. However, our (Norwegian) ambassador praised her. Last September, during the Minister’s visit in Norway, the department of the Georgian Ministry wrote to the representatives of the Norwegian Minister of Justice Knut Storberget to find out who could take care of Georgian journalists who accompanied the Georgian delegation in Norway. National media is particularly respected in Georgia. Here, in Tbilisi, the Minister has been declining my request for interview for almost a year. She declines the requests of other journalists too except several cases. The Minister severely scolded the local TV-Channel, which reported about problems in the country, because she considered the TV-Channel was acting against her.

Colonization and Robbery

Rule of Law cannot ensure security of the population. Besides that, this process is often initial phase of colonization and robbery of the country. Anthropologist Laura Nader and Lawyer Ugo Mattei wrote about this issue in their recently published book. In this process, the main purpose is to protect foreign investments rather than security of population.

Besides that, similar method cannot work in the country where the real authority is made up of a governmental office stuck between clan and party. One of the judgments of the Strasbourg Court, which was released in May 2011, reads – the Court said they were struck by the coordinated activities of various branches of power with regard to the investigation.” In this particular case the Court meant Georgian MIA, Prosecutor’s Office, Penitentiary Department, judges, president etc.

Impoverishment and lack of democracy compel people to flee from Georgia. It is a state of a single party and everybody is afraid to oppose it. If you dare to oppose them, you might lose a job, or get in prison. The businessmen do not dare to fund opposition parties.

And what could we do? First of all, we should have exposed the representatives of this regime. Norwegian experts cooperate with Saakashvili’s close circle. Besides that, they could rely on the aid of international organizations too. This spring, Georgia was seriously criticized at the UN Human Rights Council and Norway was a committee member too. Ten out of 54 member states said that Georgian judiciary system uses incorrect methods of work; nine countries criticized conditions in Georgian prisons. Norway was not among those countries.

What else? They could use immediate diplomacy too. When anonymous Maecenas Bidzina Ivanishvili appeared short time ago and launched opposition campaign, initially his citizenship was suspended (that made his involvement in the Georgian politics illegal), then his bank was charged in money laundering. The National Bank immediately started to bankrupt Ivanishvili and launched investigation. Earlier, the same happened with another businessman who also dared to oppose Saakashvili.

However, Norwegian Ambassador Erling Schonberg seems to be very tolerant about the facts which astonish many countries.

Crucial Merit

Norway has also brought its crucial merit in the establishment of this regime. Only it can explain keeping their eye blind at the violence in the country. Another reason can be politically motivated choice for Norway to completely support Saakashvili’s regime. It might be a result of geostrategic assessments. However, the main question is whether we are not ready to take responsibility for the crimes where we also participated.