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The appeal of NGOs to the Parliament of Georgia to create an investigative commission about the “ODR” issue

March 22, 2016
 
We, under signatory organizations appeal to the Parliament of Georgia to promptly react to the events taking place in the Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University, in particular, we request to create a temporary investigative commission to study the information about presence of ODR ((Soviet-style Elements of Security Service) in the University.

After the reforms in 2015, the issue of the so called ODRs was regulated. Before the changes it was possible to send a security officer to any public or private institution, but nowadays the security officer may be deployed only in the establishment of high risk. The list of those institutions is regulated by the resolution of the government and it does not include the State University or any other educational institutions. Formally, according to the current legislation, the security officer can be sent only with the consent/request of the institution. 

Despite that, the problem was not solved with the reforms of last year. The reasons are:

 Although the institute of “ODR” was formally re-established, but the legislation did not regulate dismissal of security officers, who were employees of different institutions and carried out some other activities in parallel to that;
 Newly established security service is totally closed and intransparent. It is impossible to control it from outside. Therefore, the society does not have possibility to check how the service is operates and uses its resources. 

Couple of days ago it was reported that concrete employees of the TSU are state security officers. The State Security Service disseminated an official statement regarding about the fact and noted it was regulated in accordance to the reforms of summer, 2015 and claimed that nowadays there are no “ODRs” in the State University. However, as mentioned above, the interested society or observers do not have opportunity to double check this information. The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Defense and Security also spoke about the issue and said that those officials do not exist anymore in the university. However, at some point, their presence could be justified by the threat of terrorism. The statement of the Chairman of the Committee, on the one hand, is beyond modern legal and social regulations and on the other hand it has no arguments and it is marginalizing certain groups. 

Despite the abovementioned statement, the professors and students of the university are still speaking about presence of “ODRs” in the university. The Rector confirmed that there are security agents and named concrete persons. It is noteworthy that issue of ODR was again raised during the solidarity demonstration with Batumi State University. 

Under those circumstances, it is critically important to study the case comprehensively and to respond to the legitimate questions of the society. Educational institutions shall be absolutely free space for thinking and all risks of intervention by police/security service I shall be eliminated. Therefore, we think, the Georgian Parliament shall promptly get interested in the possible intervention of security services in TSU or other educational institutions. For this, the Parliament of Georgia shall create temporary investigative commission. It should ensure participation off all interested parties, transparency and effectiveness. The investigative commission shall study the issue comprehensively and fundamentally. The following issues shall be clarified: 

 If there were “ODRs” in Tbilisi State University or other educational institutions before summer 2015. If yes, how many of them and who were the ODRs.
 What duties and responsibilities those people had. How far they interfered in the affairs of students and generally, in the work of the University. 
 If those people were staff members and if they had administrative functions beside their mission related to the security. 
 If after the reforms in 2015 (based on which the incorporation of security agents is possible only in the institutions selected by the government and based on the consent of the institution itself) security officers were dismissed and if their positions were abolished and if they were replaced by other person. 
 Recently, students and representatives of academic circles of different universities mention concrete people, who might be security officers. The investigative committee should check biography of those people and see what real link they have with law enforcement and security services. 

In parallel to the events oncoing in the university, the commission shall discuss the effectiveness of the 2015 reforms and work on systemic solution of the “ODR” institute problems. Besides, the effective mechanism of parliamentary control on the state security and police services shall be established in the parliament. It will avoid abuse of power and unreasonable waste resources by the government. 

Human Rights Education and Monitoring center (EMC)
Human Rights Center (HRIDC);
Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)
Transparency International –Georgia (TI)
Open Society – Georgia Foundation (OSGF)
Article 42 of the Constitution
Multinational Georgia
International Society for Fair and Democratic Elections (ISFED)
Partnership for Human Rights (PHR)
Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI)
Georgian Youth Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)
Liberal Academy Tbilisi
Union “Sapari”
Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI)

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