HRW: ‘There can’t be a Trade-Off on Justice’

Human Rights Watch called on the authorities “not abandon its obligations to protect human rights” in the process of negotiations with the opposition.

After meeting with opposition leaders on May 11, President Saakashvili said that, among other proposals, he had also offered the opposition “a moratorium on further investigation and legal prosecution of all offences, which occurred because of excessive political emotions in the course of protest rallies.”

“There can’t be a trade-off on justice,” Giorgi Gogia, South Caucasus researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on May 11. “The government can choose not to prosecute demonstrators, if they’ve committed offenses. But it cannot choose to abandon its human rights obligations. There have been allegations of serious human rights violations in connection with the protests, and the government has to investigate them.”

Dozens of cases of attacks on opposition activists and supporters have been reported by human rights groups and opposition parties in April, since the launch of protest rallies.

Human Rights Watch said that it had documented a pattern of attacks on participants of the rallies and concluded that “the attacks appeared to be a concerted effort to intimidate the demonstrators and prevent them from exercising their right to freedom of assembly.”

There have also been several cases wherein the police investigate actions of some pro-opposition activists. One such case includes a street brawl overnight on April 26 involving activists from pro-opposition ‘patrol group’ set up to monitor situation on the protests venues in an attempt to, as founder say, prevent cases of attacks on the opposition activists. Another case, which became a reason of the May 6 confrontation between the police and protesters, involves three youth opposition activists who were arrested for assaulting public TV journalist. Although the activists were released the case has not been formally closed.

In May 7 letter to Georgian Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili, and Justice Minister, Zurab Adeishvili, Human Rights Watch called for a prompt and full investigation of the attacks on demonstrators and for bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“In at least two cases documented by Human Rights Watch, patrol police appeared to be in the vicinity of the attack and in a position to intervene but did not do so,” the letter reads.

“In most cases documented by Human Rights Watch, law enforcement agencies took victims’ reports but to the best of our knowledge took no other action. In some cases, the victims were able to name their assailants, or the license plate numbers of the vehicles they used, yet police did not appear to apprehend the attacker or take further investigative steps.”

“Accountability for these assaults is essential to demonstrate the government’s commitment to justice, and prevent any attempts to attack freedom of assembly. Finding and prosecuting the perpetrators would demonstrate that the authorities are not condoned or tolerating such violence,” the Human Rights Watch letter reads.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)