GYLA is concerned about increasing number of cases when citizens looking to discuss their problems with the president during his meetings with public are not allowed to express their opinion and moreover, become victims of violence. GYLA held a press conference on July 25, 2012, about the issue.

On July 24, 2012, President of Georgia was meeting population of Tsaishi village, Zugdidi Municipality. Roza Tskabelia, one of Tsaishi’s dwellers had also arrived on the scene to attend the meeting. She was not allowed to talk to journalists about her problems and became a victim of criminal actions. It is noteworthy that this is not the first time violence was exerted against citizens looking to discuss problems during the meeting with the president. On June 16, 2012, Tsinara Abuladze, 75 who had arrived at the meeting with the president was beaten by sticks by police officers, confirmed in written by her neighbors. On September 26, 2011, in the village of Melaani, Gurhaani District, Lamzira Korchishvili, 53 who had arrived at the meeting with the president to hand him a letter, was allegedly abducted by men dressed in civilian uniforms from the neighboring territory.

The Georgian Media Legal Defense Center (GMLDC) reacts to the recent facts of interference with professional work of journalists.

On July 22, 2012, men dressed in civilian uniforms did not allow journalists of Info 9, who had arrived in the village of Shaumani to report on local problems, to interview local population.

According to media reports, during the visit of President Saakshvili in the village of Kheta, Khobi District, on July 25, 2012, journalists were not allowed to cover the event.

On July 24, 2012, in Ozurgeti, journalists of the newspaper Guria News were not allowed to cover visit of the president in Guria. As men dressed in civilian uniforms explained to journalists, they were on a secured territory, whereas video footage illustrates that movement was not restricted for security reasons. Even if it had been, the restriction clearly did not apply to journalists since other media outlets covered the event. As representatives of Guria News allege, they deleted video materials that journalists had recorded.

GYLA’s Georgian Media Legal Defense Center (GMLDC) responds to pressure on journalist Nodar Chachua of Channel 9 TV Company. According to the journalist, he was blackmailed by three unknown individuals, forcing him to provide information and in return, they promised financial reward.

As stated by Nodar Chachua, the unknown individuals were demanding information about situation in the television company. They were also forcing him to engage in a sexual activity with a male employee of Channel 9. He also alleges that these individuals identified themselves as representatives of some “service”, who “take care of problems but also create big problems.”

According to the July 26-27 media reports, 15 bank accounts of members of the Georgian Dream’s Lanchkhuti office and 15 participants of the door-to-door project were impounded. Furthermore, according to the information that we have, bank accounts of 4 activists of the Georgian Dream in Zugdidi were also impounded.

As of now, owners of the bank accounts are unaware of grounds of impoundment, substantiation and evidence. They also explain that they have not received any corresponding decision. Thus, they currently lack opportunity to take any further legal actions. Georgian legislation recognizes several forms of impoundment that fall under the scope of different scopes of regulation. For instance, decision on impounding delivered on the basis of the Criminal Procedure Code can be appealed within only 48 hours, which further increases the importance of submitting the importance to interested parties in a timely manner. Currently we are unaware of the type of impounding applied, the case in relation to which it has been applied and corresponding legal grounds. Although impounding of bank accounts of the Georgian Dream’s activists has been large-scale, as confirmed by media reports, currently none of the agencies have offered official statement to explain the ongoing developments.

On July 26, 2012, Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association held presentation of the project Promoting Accountability and Transparency in Georgia and the report prepared within its frames - Monitoring Report of Government Procurement of Outdoor Lighting Envisaged by the 2010 Budget of the Self-Governing City of Batumi.

The Monitoring Report of Government Procurement of Outdoor Lighting Envisaged by the 2010 Budget of the Self-Governing City of Batumi is related to the process of carrying out government procurement key trends revealed in this process.

As revealed by the monitoring report, during the work of the Tender Commission legal requirements were frequently violated, including

GYLA’s Georgian Media Legal Defense Center will hold a press conference on July 31, 2011, on impounding of satellite dish antennas of Studio Maestro LLC.

We believe that the decision to impound satellite dish antennas of Studio Maestro was illegal due to the following circumstances:

- Court rulings on impounding Maestro’s property are unjustified and contradictory; Not only the court does not describe and evaluate any evidence, but it does not make a mention of any of them at all. The ruling provides scant theoretical and hypothetical considerations about possible vote-buying by Studio Maestro. The judge, on the one hand, refers to para.3 of article 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code, but, on the other hand, in justification part of the ruling it says that the property was impounded for a possible vote buying, which is an offence against para.2 of the Article

- The norm of the Criminal Procedure Code cited by the court is unforeseeable. Specifically, para.3 of Article 151 of the Code provides for an opportunity to impound corruption related property. However, the Georgian legislation does not recognize definition of corruption; further, the court fails to substantiate in its rulings why the property of Maestro is related to corruption;

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 August 05, 2012 in Batumi.

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 Batumi and throughout the regions related to organization of the August 05, 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.

We, the campaign It Affects You Too member national NGOs would like to respond the critical developments during this difficult pre-election period, briefly sum up the existing circumstances and contribute to the improvement of the situation.

Local NGOs have been monitoring pre-election processes and their compliance with applicable legislation since January 1, 2012. In this respect, work of the state agencies remains to be a key focus of our monitoring. Throughout this period, we have accumulated a rich material that allows us to provide a preliminary and general assessment of the election environment in the country. Indeed, activities pursued by state agencies towards the work of political parties are unprecedented in terms of their intensity and scale.

Cases examined by us allow us to conclude that the work of state agencies from the pre-election point of view is too subjective, aimed at harassment of oppositional parties and the main oppositional coalition in particular. A number of serious allegations on about vote-buying, illegal contributions or use of administrative resources by the ruling party remains without a response. In the beginning of its work, the State Audit Service was trying to make its activities look more or less impartial, which they are no longer even trying to. Small-scale and inadequately small number of decisions against the ruling party, while major violations have gone without any response, lead us to believe that the State Audit Service is actually serving as yet another leverage in hands of the ruling party and its work falls short of the principle of political neutrality, as illustrated by the most recent election of the General Auditor. We also remember that scandalous information made public by former coordinator of the political union United National Movement during a TV program Without Accreditation aired on Maestro TV about violations committed by the ruling party, including about employing coordinators of the party in public service. Further, although we filed applications soliciting information to verify the issue, in gross violation of the Georgian law, Tbilisi City Hall and Sakrebulo has not provided any information.

On August 6, 2012, new order of the State Audit Service’s General Auditor was published, establishing a number of responsibilities for electoral subjects, broadcasters and newspapers. Specifically, under the Order electoral subjects have to pay costs of placement of paid political advertising on TV or in newspapers in advance, within a week. Further, electoral subjects, broadcasters and newspaper should provide records of payment envisaged by para.1 of this Order to the State Audit Service within no later than 24 hours after payment has been made.

The Order adopted by the State Audit Service falls beyond the legal framework as regulation of procedures for agreements made by electoral subjects for placement of political ads on TV and in newspapers; type of payment made and amount paid does not fall under the purview of the agency. It is the right of parties to settle these issues and it does not fall under the scope of government’s regulation. The order cites several irrelevant Articles as legal grounds. According to these Articles, the agency is authorized to regulate procedures pertinent to transparency of information about party finances. Determining rules for conducting business relations and making payments is well beyond the authority to determine rules of transparency and falls outside legal frameworks. Further, these regulations contradict law and provide for unjustifiable prohibitions that apply to electoral subjects. In individual cases, they may also act as artificial barriers for electoral subjects. It is particularly noteworthy that the State Audit Agency did not provide any concrete grounds for the necessity of adopting the new regulations or a concrete goal that they serve to achieve.

Physical force was exerted against a cameraman of Info 9 yesterday in Lanchkhuti, on August 15, 2012. Cameraman Davit Chavleishvili suffered injuries while carrying out his professional activities. Footage shows that a young man was intimidated by questions that the camera crew was asking while capturing on video-camera passengers of a mini-bus parked outside the local municipality. First he screamed at the journalist and then hit the camera with his hand in an attempt to stop the video recording. As a result of his actions, the cameraman of Info 9, Davit Chavleishvili suffered an injury in his face. Later he was taken to the hospital. Further, equipment of the agency has been damaged.