On June 2, 2012, the Georgian Chamber of Control’s Party Monitoring Service, under the law infringement protocol, found the Georgian Football Supporter, a non-entrepreneurial non-commercial legal entity, was guilty of receiving up to USD 200,000 in illicit donations from different individuals and legal entities.

The Monitoring Service, subsequently, fined the Georgian Football Supporter and froze its accounts under paragraph 1 and 4 of the article 261and paragraphs 1 and 3 of article 342of the Georgian Organic Law on Political Unions of Citizens as they are described below.

We think that fining this organization and impounding its accounts was in violation of existing legislation since the above articles of the law prescribe the following requirements for fines:

The Parliament of Georgia is now considering proposed amendments to the Election Code of Georgia. Some of its provisions have been drafted by the Commission in charge of verifying voters' list (the Commission). The draft law proposes inclusion of the following voters in the unified voters’ list:

1. Voters whose registration has been annulled by the Civil Registry, Ministry of Justice of Georgia;
2. Voters whose living at the place of their registration is not confirmed by information provided to the Commission by an individual registered at the same address.

The draft law grants these individuals with the right to participate elections held through both majoritarian and proportionate system. It is noteworthy that if an individual is removed from registration, registration portion of his/her ID card is deemed void but it is still valid to prove identity. According to one of the representatives of the Commission, number of people that fall under either of the categories is approximately 80 000. Delegating the right to vote according to a place of registration that has been deemed void means that invalid information will have a legal force, which is unacceptable. Further, it produces the risk that voters removed from registration will register shortly before the elections according to their home address and will simultaneously be included on the list for two electoral precincts, which will reduce chances of the Commission to identify such cases in a timely manner and ensure accuracy of lists.

Participants of the civil campaign It Affects You Too welcome today’s statement of the Chairman of Parliament made on air on Imedia TV during the 2 o’clock news about obligatory carrying of all television channels by all the cable operators during the electoral period.

According to Mr. Bakradze, parliament is currently working on a proposal that envisages “carrying of all television channels by all the cable operators during the electoral period”.

The Chairman’s statement echoes the legislative initiative prepared under the auspices of It Affects You Too campaign on implementation of the so-called must carry and must offer regulations, which, according to the majority of NGO sector and media organizations, will ensure availability of pluralist information for public and enable them to make an informed choice.

On June 21, 2012, Tbilisi City Court’s Board of Administrative Cases granted the motion of the Office of the General Prosecutor of Georgia and impounded technical equipment for broadcasting intended for Global Consulting Ltd. (antennas, receiver, convertors). The court’s order was founded on the criminal case involving vote buying by certain individuals through handing out satellite dishes and receivers registered under Global Contact Consulting Ltd. According to the prosecution, despite the address of the Chamber of Control of Georgia to the Global Contact Consulting, certain individuals continued handing out of TV antennas to voters in exchange for support of a political subject. The court ruled that technical equipments for broadcasting are a property is aimed to be used for committing a crime, in particular for vote buying. Therefore, the technical equipments were impounded.

We believe that while the state is responsible to take efficient measures to combat crime, the process must be conducted in unequivocal observance of principle of justice and law. The state is also responsible to treat cases that involve media-related prohibitions with special caution.

We believe that the June 21, 2012 order of Tbilisi City Court’s Board of Administrative Cases on impounding the property was made in violation of procedures of the criminal law procedures due to the following circumstances:

International Day in Support for Victims of Torture is celebrated on June 26. Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Public Defender of Georgia annually mark the day with various activities.

This year Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Public Defender of Georgia planned a joint event. Specifically, on May 26, GYLA chairperson and the Public Defender distributed posters and brochures in Dighomi N2 pre-trial detention isolator. These brochures and posters will contribute to raising awareness of detainees about their rights, which will play a role in prevention of ill-treatment and torture. Furthermore, posters and brochures will contribute to deepening knowledge and raising awareness of personnel of the penitentiary establishment, which is equally important for preventing torture and ill-treatment.

Posters and brochures prepared under the auspices of a joint project of GYLA and the Public Defender of Georgia – Improving Prisoners’ Rights – Joint Advocacy, are intended for individuals detained under criminal as well as administrative charges. Further, in consideration of national minorities held in pre-trial detention isolators, posters and brochures were prepared not only in Georgian but also in Armenian, Azerbaijani, English and Russian languages.

These posters and brochures will be distributed in other pre-trial detention isolators during monitoring of the National Preventive Mechanism in summer.

Lawyers of Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association interviewed individuals that applied to Komagi Foundation for assistance and were questioned in Moduli Building as witnesses. Combination of statements given by the following citizens – Givi Kuridze, Manana Gurgenashvili, Lamzira Kochishvili, Nugzar Belkania – produces a reasonable doubt that the Interior Ministry officers violated law in the process of questioning the said individuals as witnesses.

These individuals confirm that they applied to Komagi Foundation. They explain that on June 9, 2012, Interior Ministry officers visited them in their homes, and tricked and coerced them into going to Moduli Building. Most of these policemen wore civil uniforms and failed to state their identities to individuals summoned as witnesses. Although they were informed in Moduli Building of being questioned as witnesses, the authorities failed to specify the alleged crime under investigation. Three of them were informed that they had the right to a lawyer’s assistance.

The Criminal Procedures Code of Georgia stipulates that an individual to be summoned as a witnessed must be provided with a notice stating “who and for what, to whom and at which address the individual has been summoned, time and date for appearance.” Forcing a witness to testify is allowed if s/he is avoiding appearance for invalid reason. It is further noteworthy that according to N. Belkania, policement visited him at his workplace with his child in their car.

GYLA responds to violence that erupted in the village of Mereti, Gori municipality, on June 26, 2012 and believes that failure of the police to act for prevention of violence based on political intolerance as well as politicization of public service is unacceptable.

A group of people assembled in Mereti clearly expressed their frustration with Bidzina Ivanishvili and Irakli Alasania, leaders of the coalition Georgian Dream, who had arrived in the village for meeting with voters. Eventually, the disagreement grew into a fistfight and physical abuse, as a result of which several people sustained health injuries. Physical violence erupted along a borderline village, where Georgian law enforcers are patrol on a regular basis; nevertheless, the police failed to take measures for preventing violence.

Article 25 of the Constitution of Georgia guarantees freedom of peaceful assembly. The state has a positive responsibility to protect freedom of assembly. In Plattform "Ärzte für das Leben" v. Austria the ECHR ruled that the participants must be able to hold the demonstration without having to fear that they will be subjected to physical violence by their opponents. The state violates the right to assembly not only by directly interfering with holding a demonstration but also by remaining passive during a physical clash between demonstrators and other persons and fails to take steps for preventing violence, making it impossible to hold an assembly in peaceful manner.

Several days ago it became public that convicts of the penitentiary establishment N15 applied to the Public Defender of Georgia with a collective petition about their verbal and physical abuse on various occasions, signed by up to 700 convicts.

After the information was made public, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association met with nine convicts who were transferred from Ksani N15 establishment to the penitentiary establishment N1 on June 24. In an interview with lawyers of GYLA, convicts confirmed facts cited in the collective petition and seven of them consented to launching a probe. Consequently, their statements will be referred to the office of the prosecutor. Furthermore, the following three convicts – Besik Guledani, Zurab Naskidashvili and Paata Modebadze, have consented to making their names public. As for the remaining convicts, they prefer to keep their identity private.

According to the petition, convicts were subject to various unlawful actions both during their admission to penitentiary establishment and afterwards. Statements of prisoners suggest that following types of illegal actions were committed by personnel of the penitentiary establishment:

 holding convicts in a dump and dirty bathhouse for several days;

 verbal abuse by making offensive remarks and swearing at them, as well as physical abuse/beating with their feet, fists and truncheons;

 unlawful seizure of personal belongings of convicts;

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) will monitor the manifestation to be held by the coalition Georgian Dream on July 01, 2012 in Mtskheta.

The monitoring will be carried out within the frames of a long-term pre-election monitoring, which entails monitoring of public meetings organized by political parties as well as realization of freedom of assembly and manifestation.

Monitors will observe all developments in Mtskheta and throughout the regions related to organization of the July 01, 2012 assembly and mobilization and relocation of participants.

GYLA and ISFED remain hopeful that the assembly will be held in a peaceful environment and the authorities will observe legal guarantees for assembly and manifestation.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association

Transparency International – Georgia

On June 11, 2012, judges of Tbilisi City Court Koba Gotsirize and Nana Daraselia fined Bidzina Ivanishvili with total of GEL 148,650,131. The Court found that Ivanishvili made an illegal contribution in favor of the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia.

The Chamber of Control of Georgia contends that in the first case Ivanishvili transferred money to his brother – Alexandre Ivanishvili, used for installing satellite antennas for population. As estimated by the political parties’ financial monitoring service, total market value of the antennas amounted to GEL 12, 622, 019. In the second case, Elita Burju LLC and Burji LLC rented 239 vehicles to the party Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia at a symbolic price, whereas the market value of the service amounted to GEL 2, 242, 000. The court found that Bidzina Ivanishvili was behind these two companies.

The said decisions were delivered following two trials held on June 8 and June 11 respectively. We believe that court’s decision was not based on comprehensive, thorough and objective examination of the case. Judging by the court proceedings, the evidence and the materials presented by the Chamber of Control of Georgia, fining of Bidzina Ivanishvili was unlawful due to the following circumstances: