MP Presents Draft Law on ‘Anti-Terrorism Measures’

MP Gia Tortladze presented on November 17 a draft law, which he said, would help law enforcement agencies to boost and better coordinate “anti-terrorism measures.”

The draft law with the name “On Providing Anti-Terrorist Measures, Public Security and Citizens’ Constitutional Rights” was dubbed by its sponsor himself as ‘Patriot Act’ in reference to the law enacted in the United States following the 9/11 terrorist attack.

MP Tortladze, however, said that his proposal did not involve any controversial provisions, like monitoring of phone calls and emails without the court oversight.  

According to the proposed draft law, the Interior Ministry’s counter-terrorism center will be entitled to monitor all the bank transfers made from abroad within the country to individual or legal entities, as well as to civil society organizations in amount of GEL 10,000 (about USD 5,900). According to the current regulations transactions worth of over GEL 30,000 falls under the oversight of the Georgian Financial Monitoring Service.

According to the draft law the law enforcement agencies should be able to search and inspect any “suspicious” cargo imported into Georgia. The law enforcement agencies should also install CCTVs in railway stations, “on bridges of strategic importance”, power stations and places of public gathering.

Many measures envisaged by the proposal are already in force through various laws; but MP Tortladze said a separate legislature was required to make anti-terrorism measures more efficient.
 
MP Tortladze, who is a founder of Democratic Party of Georgia, is formally a member of the parliamentary minority group. But his colleagues from the parliamentary minority group said they were not in favor of this type of legislature.

The issue of Patriot Act was raised at least twice previously by the authorities – once in 2006 and then shortly after the August war when President Saakashvili said that Georgia needed “a patriot act” to deter possible attempts to overthrow the government through foreign intervention.

The idea, which was slammed by the opposition, did not see any further progress and no written draft was even prepared by the ruling party.