The Daily Beat: 5 April
US Department of State sanctioned four influential judges and their family members for “significant” corruption and undermining the rule of law, making them ineligible to enter the United States. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issued a statement publicly designating Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze under Section 7031(c) visa restriction authorities. “These individuals abused their positions as court Chairmen and Members of the High Council of Justice, undermining the rule of law and the public’s faith in Georgia’s judicial system,” – the statement reads. This surprise move signaled the first serious rupture in US-Georgia relations.
Anton Blinken’s sanction announcement was almost immediately followed by US Ambassador Kelly Degnan’s recorded statement on the same topic. “The State Department determined, based on credible and corroborated evidence, that these individuals abused their public positions by engaging in significant corrupt activity. Their actions undercut judicial and public processes by offering benefits to or coercing judges to decide cases in favor of political allies and manipulating judicial appointments to their benefit,” – the ambassador said. She further noted that “under US law, credible evidence of significant corruption, such as this, results in designations.”
The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers issued a report on the “Supervision of the Execution of Judgments and Decisions of the ECHR 2022,” highlighting the lack of progress in further legislative reforms to strengthen the independence of the Prosecutor’s Office and protect LGBTI activists against the inhuman and degrading treatment. The Committee also expressed “profound concern” over the developments leading to the dissolution of the former State Inspector’s Service and called on the authorities to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of ill-treatment investigations.
The UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution, “On Cooperation with Georgia,” expressing grave concern about the human rights situation in the occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia. The resolution also reaffirmed support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and condemned Russia’s illegal military presence in both regions and attempts to legitimize it through illegal elections, treaties, and land seizures. UN Human Rights Council expressed concern about various forms of reported discrimination against ethnic Georgians, cases of torture, and unlawful killings of Georgian citizens, noting that such human rights situations in these territories create an additional threat of further displacement.
Transparency International Georgia (TIG), a local watchdog, released a report on the main trends in the energy sector of Georgia in 2010-2022, according to which, despite the increase in imports of energy resources from Russia in recent years, Georgia is not significantly dependent on Russian electricity and “even if electricity from Russia is completely cut off, the country will not face an energy crisis.” TIG report noted exceed in domestic electricity consumption over production, leading to increased imports and growing tariffs. TIG report also indicated the involvement of intermediary companies owned by former top officials in the import, making electricity more expensive.
The foreign ministry confirmed the death of two more Georgian fighters in Ukraine, increasing the unofficial death toll to 31. According to media reports, Vakhtang Barabadze and Davit Kuchukiani were killed in an artillery attack near Bakhmut.
