Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TBILISI1299
2007-06-01 13:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tbilisi
Cable title:  

GEORGIAN POLITICAL REFORM UPDATE, PART ONE

Tags:  PGOV PHUM GG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2803
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSI #1299/01 1521346
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 011346Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY TBILISI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6525
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TBILISI 001299 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR DAS MATT BRYZA, EUR/CARC, EUR/RPM, AND
DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIAN POLITICAL REFORM UPDATE, PART ONE

REF: A. A) TBILISI 0281


B. B) TBILISI 1242

C. C) TBILISI 0767

D. D) TBILISI 0284

E. E) TBILISI 1042

F. F) TBILISI 1036

G. G) TBILISI 1136

H. H) TBILISI 1247

I. I) TBILISI 1301

Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TBILISI 001299

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR DAS MATT BRYZA, EUR/CARC, EUR/RPM, AND
DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIAN POLITICAL REFORM UPDATE, PART ONE

REF: A. A) TBILISI 0281


B. B) TBILISI 1242

C. C) TBILISI 0767

D. D) TBILISI 0284

E. E) TBILISI 1042

F. F) TBILISI 1036

G. G) TBILISI 1136

H. H) TBILISI 1247

I. I) TBILISI 1301

Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) This is part one of a two-part series by outgoing
officers on Georgia's progress on key internal reforms as
Georgia tries to obtain a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP)
in the next twelve months.


2. (C) Summary. The Saakashvili government, which came to
power following the Rose Revolution in 2003, continues to
undertake historic reforms in almost every sector of
government. This cable focuses on three reforms which are
critical to building a democracy in Georgia: judicial
reform, human rights, and elections. While the GoG has taken
important steps in all these areas, by increasing the
independence of the judiciary, improving the accountability
and professionalism of police as well as the situation in the
prisons, and improving the conduct of elections, much work
still needs to be done. On judicial reform, the GoG must
adopt and implement a ban on ex parte communications as well
as successfully launch a 14-month judicial training program
for new judges by the legislatively imposed October deadline.
On police reform, the GoG needs to promptly and thoroughly
investigate all allegations of excessive use of force or
abuse by law enforcement. It also should start long-delayed
structural reforms to professionalize the bureaucracy of the
Ministry of Interior Affairs (MOIA),remove arbitrariness,
and increase oversight. On prison reform, the GoG needs to
maintain the pace of reform to ease severe overcrowding in
its facilities and address concerns about abuse through
implementation of a new mechanism for reporting abuse. With
regard to the touchstone 2008 combined presidential and
parliamentary elections, the GoG needs to continue to build
on the positive progress demonstrated in the 2006 local
elections. Embassy continues to press the GoG on all these

issues as Georgia strives to achieve a MAP from NATO by
spring 2008. End Summary.

--------------
STILL TOUGH ROAD TO JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE
--------------


3. (C) Since the Rose Revolution, the pace of judicial reform
has been uneven. Critical reforms have been successfully
implemented including, for example, the reorganization of the
court system into a simplified three-tier system that
promotes efficient administration of justice, modernization
of court facilities, increased judicial salaries to
discourage corruption, reform of the judicial appointment and
disciplinary processes which removed the executive branch
members from the High Council of Justice HCOJ) (reftel A).


4. (C) Despite this progress and President Saakashvili's June
2005 statement that increasing judicial independence would be
a top reform initiative for the GoG, the pace of reform seems
to have lagged. To address this, Post has continued to press
for specific action in the following key areas:

-- Implementation of a ban on ex parte communications to
address the Soviet-legacy of 'telephone justice';

-- Increase transparency in the judicial appointment process
by publicizing criteria used to assess suitability of
candidates;

-- Successful launch of the 14-month comprehensive training
program for newly appointed judges;

-- Implementation of a magistrate system to promote judicial
efficiency in adjudicating minor offense and small claims as
well as to provide practical experience for new judges; and,

-- Promoting stability and public confidence in judicial
system through publication of judicial rulings and decisions.


5. (C) Implementation of these key reforms is critical for
development and strengthening of an independent judiciary in
Georgia. The Parliamentary Legal Issues Committee has been
developing a draft ex parte law for many months. Giga
Bokeria, the Deputy Chair of the Committee, assured Embassy
representatives May 30 that a draft will be introduced in

TBILISI 00001299 002 OF 004


Parliament the week of June 4. Implementation of the law
will be critical, as a previous ex parte ban adopted in the
Shevardnadze era was never implemented. Moreover, senior GoG
officials, including the President, have frequently made
public comments regarding high profile pending criminal cases
such as the recent Batiashvili case (reftel B). While these
type of statements by high level officials would not violate
the letter of an ex parte communications ban, they could
continue to reinforce the public perception that the
judiciary is merely a tool of the executive branch.


6. (C) Despite substantial encouragement and assistance from
the international community, the High School of Justice
(HSOJ) is in danger of failing to meet the October deadline
for launch of the 14-month training program for new judges.
Currently, the HSOJ has not developed a curriculum or
retained instructors for the course. Embassy
representatives, including the Ambassador, have met with HSOJ
Director David Saakashvili and his Deputy Shota Rukadze to
repeatedly stress the importance of meeting the October
deadline (reftel C) (Note: David Saakashvili is the
President's half-brother. End Note.) Nevertheless,
Saakashvili and Rukadze recently failed to circulate a draft
curriculum on May 25 as promised. Rukadze told Embassy
representatives on May 30 that the curriculum is now complete
and being reviewed by the HCOJ. Once reviewed, he said it
would be translated into English and released for
international review and comment in July. We will continue
to press this point. The successful launch of the 14-month
HSOJ program is also key to the successful implementation of
the magistrate judge system.


7. (C) With regard to increasing transparency in the judicial
appointment process, in March, the HCOJ did begin publicizing
the names of eligible judicial appointees (reftel D). The
list is comprised of individuals who have passed a written
examination. The next step we are encouraging the GoG to
take with regard to this process is to clarify the criteria
used in the interview process to evaluate the candidates.


8. (C) Even when the GoG has successfully implemented these
reforms, for the judiciary to be a truly independent branch
of government viewed by Georgians as such, two things still
need to happen. First, time has to pass. Dating back to the
Soviet era, the judiciary was considered one of the most, if
not the most, corrupt parts of the government. Accordingly
to begin to dispel this perception, the judicial reform
initiative must include a concerted effort by judges to
publicize -- either in statements from the bench or via
written opinions -- clear reasons based in law for their
rulings. We have also encouraged the Chairman of the Supreme
Court to expand the public relations department of the court.
Second, senior government officials need to refrain from
making public statements regarding pending investigations or
ongoing trials.


9. (C) The prosecution and trial of former government
official Irakli Batiashvili on charges of providing
intellectual support to a rebel warlord in the Kodori Gorge
in Abkhazia is illustrative of how statements by senior GoG
officials -- in this instance, influential MP and Saakashvili
insider Giga Bokeria, who said the evidence against
Batiashvili was irrefutable -- erode public confidence and
international perceptions that the judiciary is independent.
Compounding this was the admission during the trial by the
judge that she had not listened to the audiotapes that were
the key evidence against Batiashvili. Moreover, the judge's
failure to articulate a clear basis for the guilty verdict
reinforced the common public perception that the verdict was
pre-ordained (reftel B).

--------------
REAL COMMITMENT TO PRISON REFORM
--------------


10. (C) In response to concerns expressed by the
international community, in the Department's 2006 Human
Rights Country Report of Georgia, and by international human
rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, which issued a
highly critical evaluation of the prison system in summer
2006, the GoG has taken significant steps to, among other
things, alleviate severe overcrowding, improve nutrition for
prisoners, and establish a mechanism for reporting
allegations of abuse or mistreatment.


11. (C) The prognosis for continued and successful reform in
the prison system is good. Construction and rehabilitation
of prisons and pre-trial detention facilities is ongoing
although slightly behind schedule. Nevertheless, by autumn,
all inmates in the Georgian penal system should be housed in

TBILISI 00001299 003 OF 004


newly constructed or rehabilitated facilities. MP Giga
Bokeria told Embassy representatives May 28 that the backlog
of pre-trial detainees has been eliminated. Moreover, the
budget for inmate nutrition and health care is increasing
while the growth in inmate population is stabilizing.
Previously, potential improvements hoped for as a result of
increased budget allotments had been eroded by substantial
increases in the inmate population.


12. (C) Ombudsman Sozar Subari has been a vocal critic of the
prison system. Recently, however, he told Poloff that he
believes that as a result of the construction/rehabilitation
projects and the increased budgetary allotments that the
physical conditions in which Georgia's inmates are housed
will continue to improve (reftel E). Subari is more
skeptical, however, of the effectiveness of the successful
implementation of a confidential process for inmates to
report allegations of abuse or mistreatment by prison
officials. Subari believes that inmates are reluctant to
report abuse for fear of retribution. To combat this, Subari
hopes to expand monitoring of prisons to replicate the
success of the police station monitoring operation overseen
by his office which reduced the incidence of abuse in those
facilities.


13. (C) Another cornerstone of the GoG's reform effort is the
adoption of a new comprehensive penitentiary code drafted
with the input from the Council of Europe. What was
expected to be a relatively smooth adoption process of the
draft by Parliament was derailed by the late addition of a
new provision which would allow prison authorities to impose
a 90-day sentence on any inmate who violated prison
regulations. NGOs such as Prison Reform International and
Georgian Young Lawyers Association criticized this proposal
as a violation of international human rights standards since
the provision contained no requirement for a hearing before
the sentence would be imposed and there was no limit to the
number of times an inmate could be subjected to the 90-day
penalty. As result, the adoption of the new penitentiary
code has been delayed.

--------------
ELECTION PREPARATION BEGINNING NOW
--------------


14. (C) In the estimated 17 months until the combined
presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Autumn
2008, the GoG needs to address concerns that the voters' list
is not as accurate as it could be and to adopt and implement
changes to the Unified Election Code. Both concerns are
currently being addressed. The OSCE's Ambassadors Elections
Group has already met with Speaker of Parliament Nino
Burjanadze to encourage the GoG to be proactive in its
preparation for the 2008 elections in these and other key
matters such setting the election date to allow for planning
by international observer missions and for the Central
Election Commission (CEC) to begin developing an overall
strategic plan including developing professional capacity of
election officials and for taking steps to ensure ethnic
minorities full participation in the election process (reftel
F).


15. (C) The CEC has announced that it will launch an
initiative to update the voters list including conducting a
door to door campaign this autumn (reftel G). By law, the CEC
is required to update the voters list twice a year. Since
the Rose Revolution, however, the CEC has not met this
requirement. This initiative is complemented by significant
quality control efforts being undertaken by the Civil
Registry within the Ministry of Justice. (Note: The Civil
Registry is responsible for issuing national identify cards.
Donors, including USAID, have been funding a multi-year
modernization of the registry. End Note.)


16. (C) In the wake of the October 2006 local elections, NGOs
and the CEC openly debated the percentage of voters not
properly included on the voters' list due to a typographical
error in their surname or who were completely left off the
voters list. Their estimates varied substantially from under
1 percent to upwards of 8 percent. In part, the divergence
is due to different methodologies and large statistical
margins of error due to small sample sizes. To avoid this
potentially distracting post hoc debate after the critical
presidential/parliamentary elections, we will encourage the
CEC to support an independent audit of the list conducted
using generally accepted auditing methodology.


17. (C) Parliament is currently considering the suggested
Venice Commission (VC)/ODHIR recommendations for changes to
the Unified Election Code. Under the leadership of Deputy

TBILISI 00001299 004 OF 004


Speaker Misha Machavariani, Parliament has established a
working group, which includes opposition party MPs, to
systematically review all the VC/ODHIR recommendations.
While not all recommendations will likely be adopted
(including changes to the composition of the CEC or
redistricting of election districts),it is possible
Parliament will lower the 7 percent threshold for party
representation in the newly elected Parliament to 5 percent.
This would make it more likely that more than one opposition
party would enter Parliament and in this way increase the
checks on the overwhelming majority now enjoyed by the
National Movement.


18. (C) It will also be important for the GoG to address
concerns that arose during and after the October 2006 local
election campaign that vague regulations and inadequate
training of local election administrators could raise
questions about the integrity of the election results. All
observers of the October 2006 local elections agreed that
results of the election accurately reflected ruling party
National Movement's continuing high popularity. However,
observers did note that the use of similar colors/logos and
photos in public service announcements and National Movement
campaign materials blurred the distinction between party and
government. Also, inadequate training of precinct officials
resulted in uneven application of invisible ink to voters'
thumbs and inconsistent inspection at precinct entrances,
potentially blunting any anti-fraud benefits. While these
concerns did not call into question ruling party National
Movement's resounding October 2006 victory, in a closer race,
failure to address them when the results are not so clear-cut
could raise questions of integrity of the elections process.

--------------
POLICE IMPUNITY STILL A CONCERN
--------------


19. (C) While the wholesale replacement of the notoriously
corrupt traffic police by a new patrol police continues to be
one of the most popular reforms of the Saakashvili
government, concerns that law enforcement officials can still
act with impunity remain. As reported in the 2006 Human
Rights Country Report for Georgia, the GoG's record of
investigating and prosecuting law enforcement officials
accused of abuse or use of excessive force is uneven. During
2006, there were reportedly 13 deaths resulting from alleged
excessive use of force by police. In one midday incident in
central Tbilisi in April 2006, police fired on a car with
four men allegedly enroute to burgle an apartment. One of
the men died from at least 25 gunshot wounds. The
investigation into this matter and other similar incidents
dating back to the first quarter of 2006 are still pending in
the Prosecutor General's Office.


20. (C) These high profile cases coupled with reports of
evidence tampering by police (reftel H) reinforce a public
perception that the police, while not necessarily openly
soliciting bribes as in the pre-Rose Revolution period, are
able to act improperly without a strong fear of punishment.
The MOIA's delay of long-planned structural reforms (reftel)
further reinforce these bad habits and inefficiencies.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


21. (C) The Government, at our urging, is currently working
to address all of these issues. We will continue to raise
them at all levels to ensure that these key reforms, which
are crucial to consolidating democracy in Georgia, are
completed. End comment.
TEFFT