CSOs Protect the Freedom of Speech

Attacks on free mass media and CSO in Poti

On October 17, 2003 civil activists supported by independent media and international organizations staged a rally in front of the Mayor’s office in western Georgian town of Poti, protesting against the frequent attacks on the independent media and civil society organization.

The office of the independent newspaper “Poti” and civil society organization Public Center for Freedom and Democracy was robbed recently. As a result Poti-based CSO had to stop the implementation of anti-corruption project “Where does our money go?” and the project assisting the socially vulnerable groups “The Power of Powerless”.

The CSO members say the case of robbery is obscured with ambiguity. The office of the organization is located near the local Police Department and the building is protected for 24 hours by the police. The police record the entrance and exit on the video, however Khatuna Tsomaia, the head of the organization, says that on the day of the robbery the tape recording is stopped after 4 AM.

“Our organization is well known for the local governmental agencies as we frequently publish the critical articles and implement important anticorruption projects, which of course is disliked by the authorities,” Khatuna Tsomaia told Advocacy.Ge

The CSO representatives believe the facts of corruption in the governmental bodies they revealed was the main reason of this robbery.

The CSO members also say this is not the first case of the attack. “Our organization and me personally were attacked for the several times. Taking out our newspaper containing critical articles from distribution network and mounting pressure on the journalists and distributors of the newspaper is the common case for us, but this time the government achieved its aim and our activity has completely stopped,” Khatuna Tsomaia said.

 “We are here to protect our colleagues as their basic rights have been violated by you [The members of Poti local government],” Levan Ramishvili of Liberty Institute said at the protest rally in front of the Poti Municipality.

Civil activists also condemned the attacks on the crew of the independent TV Company 9th Wave, who tried to shot the police raid against “Kmara” activists during Shevardnadze’s visit to Poti on October 11. 

International organizations supported the protest action and issued the joint statement saying that it is inadmissible to use force against basic civil rights and liberties. The letters to the mayor, vice mayor and chief of local the Police Department read that members of the International Organizations ask the local governmental bodies and law enforcement agencies to investigate the above mentioned cases of attacks against CSO and media and punish the perpetrators.