11 MEPs Call for Comprehensive Investigation into Death of School Principal

Eleven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have sent an open letter to the Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze asking for a “comprehensive investigation” into the death of Zugdidi Public School Principal Ia Kerzaia.

MEPs Ana Gomes (S&D), Michael Gahler (EPP), Rebecca Harms (Greens/EFA), Nathalie Griesbeck (ALDE), Julie Ward (S&D), Alyn Smith (Greens/EFA), Tunne Kelam (EPP), Bart Staes (Greens/EFA), Tania González Peñas (GUE/NGL), José Inácio Faria (EPP) and Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA) urge for a “prompt and thorough investigation into the case involving political pressure on the school principal.”

The parliamentarians believe the reasons that lead to the death of Kerzaia, who died on December 9, 2018 after an inspection was carried out in the school, need to be clarified.

“We undetstand that days before Mrs Kerzaia suffered a stroke, which eventually resulted in her death, she publicly stated and also informed the Public Defender of Georgia of intense pressure [put on her] with the purpose of her joining the campaign of the then ruling party-endorsed candidate Salome Zurabishvili, now President of Georgia,” the letter reads.

The MEPs also mention the NGO International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) report, which reads the case “contains elements of potential discrimination with political motive.”

“A Tbilisi-based election watchdog indicates that the circumstances surrounding the November 2018 inspection in Zugdidi Public School No. 6 raises suspicion that the inspection mechanism was used for political purposes ahead of the presidential elections and constituted a case of intimidation and harassment,” the authors of the letter say.

The MEPs believe it is in the best interest of Georgia and its democratic future that Kerzaia’s case is investigated in a “comprehensive and timely manner by the Prosecutor’s Office and the judicial authorities in the country, so that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”

In addition to this, the MEPs say the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia should also clarify the standards and methodology of school inspections and refrain from using such mechanism in the pre-election period.

Ia Kerzaia’s son, Bachana Shengelia, claims his mother was the victim of repression and political persecution; that pressure was coming from the education minister with the intention of intimidating the school principal because she many times refused to become an activist for the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Kerzaia died on December 9, after she was operated on in hospital. On November 26 she published a letter in local media saying that on November 9, inspectors had shown up at her school from the Ministry of Education to carry out an inspection based on an anonymous complaint regarding the misappropriation of school funds. The principal denied the allegations against her.

By Thea Morrison

Image source: Netgazeti