Public Defender presents 2019 report
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, December 11
December 10 is International Human Rights Day. In this regard, the Public Defender Nino Lomjaria talked about the challenges of human rights during the year.
According to Lomjaria, in 2019 the Public Defender of Georgia paid special attention to monitoring and evaluation of the process of recruitment of judges by the Supreme Court of Georgia.
“Observations by the Public Defender on the selection of Supreme Court judges by the High Council of Justice have revealed many problems that have had a significant impact on the fairness of the proceedings, to a high standard.
This is discussed in detail in the Special Public Defender's report."
As ombudsman concluded, the Pentagon process in the High Council of Justice failed to convince any objective observer that the most competent and conscientious candidates would eventually be presented to the Parliament of Georgia for a 20-year term in the Supreme Court of Georgia, since the selection process was carried out secretly, revealing instances of disagreement by board members, which cast doubt on the fair conduct of the process.
The statement by the Office of the Ombudsman also focused on freedom of assembly and expression.
According to the statement, the reason for the gatherings, including spontaneous rallies, was often to express political views, or to protest anything related to them, such as labor in a safe environment, construction of power plants and more. In many cases, there were marches and rallies organized by various violent groups and homophobic groups aimed at restricting the rights of minorities, and in some cases violent acts.
According to the Public Defender, both positive and negative obligations to protect the right to assembly were not properly met this year.
“The monitoring of the June 20-21 rally revealed that prior to the termination of the rally, there was no clear and understandable warning of the intended use of special means, contrary to the requirements of the law;” In this case, legitimate questions about the proportionality of the force used have been raised, and in some cases, there have been obvious cases of abuse of power by law enforcement.
“In addition to the above, it is noteworthy that the peaceful demonstrations of November 18 and 26 were also dispersed by force.” – said Lomjaria, noting that unlike the previous case, stocks were broken down by “relatively light means”, yet there are questions about the proportionality of the means used to achieve the objective.
She also talked about the demonstration in the Pankisi Gorge that was dispersed by force protesting the construction of the power plant. “In this case, it is noteworthy that there was insufficient communication with the population regarding the construction of the HPP, and all resources were not used to prevent escalation of the situation and to resolve existing challenges peacefully,” announced Lomjaria.
The report also notes that as a result of the monitoring carried out by members of the Special Preventive Group in 2019, the criminal subculture in the penitentiary institutions and the vicious practice of forms of informal governance were particularly highlighted.
The Public Defender of Georgia also summarizes the year on homophobic groups' planned march of honor on June 14, 2019, as well as attempts to thwart the film "We and the Dance."
She noted that despite numerous violent incidents in these cases, the authorities failed to take the necessary precautionary measures, did not prosecute the organizers of the violent acts, and in some cases delayed and effective response to individual violence.
In 2019, one of the priorities of the Public Defender's Office was to take care of the legal situation of those affected by the conflict.
The information received about the beatings and ill-treatment of prisoners at the Tskhinvali detention center is disturbing, reaffirming the grave human rights situation on the occupied territories. The fact of the illegal detention of Dr. Vazha Gaprindashvili is particularly alarming. It is critically important that the state, with all the resources at its disposal, including the involvement of international organizations, ensure the release of an unlawfully detained physician.
The statement also speaks about minorities' rights, labor security, the health care system and violence against women.
