NGOs: Officials' Attack on Civil Sector Harms Georgian Democracy
12 non-governmental organizations have released a statement, saying that leading members of the Government of Georgia and the ruling party are continuing their purposeful attacks on NGOs.
The statement reads that the Justice Minister of Georgia, Thea Tsulukiani, carried out yet another attack of this kind at the International Anti-Corruption Conference in Copenhagen on October 22nd. According to the NGOs, in response to the comments made by the representative of Transparency International Georgia, who expressed the joint opinion of the leading Georgian non-governmental sector and concerns of international organizations with regards to the events that have been unfolding in Georgia lately, the Minister of Justice targeted the Head of Transparency International Georgia, Eka Gigauri and tried to portray the situation as though critical opinions are only held by one organization.
“Minister Tsulukiani repeated false accusations voiced against Eka Gigauri by film Director Goga Khaindrava in 2015, alleging that she participated in the dispersal of a rally on November 7, 2007. These accusations, at the time, followed former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s attack on the leaders of non-governmental organizationsm when he said he was planning to look into the past of the heads of civil society organizations. Over these accusations, Eka Gigauri herself filed a lawsuit against Khaindrava for infringement of dignity, honor and professional reputation, which the court has been considering for several years now,” the statement reads.
The NGOs say that Tsulukiani’s action was preceded by a personal attack by Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze against the Head of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy at a press conference on October 8; prior to this, Tsulukiani and Kobakhidze referred to NGOs as political parties, because of the critical remarks they made about a corruption scandal.
The organizations also say that in an interview on October 23, ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party founder and Chair Ivanishvili repeated the same rhetoric too, referring to the representatives of non-governmental sector as “active members of the United National Movement,” which is Georgia’s former ruling party.
“Worth noting is that this is happening in the run-up to the elections and organizations working on election monitoring and human rights are being discredited during this period – with the goal of de-legitimizing their work and assessments,” the statement reads.
On October 24, 2018, Public Defender of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria denounced the recent statements made against the NGOs.
The Public Defender of Georgia considers that such an attitude is inadmissible and threatens the process of the democratic development of Georgia.
By Thea Morrison