OPPOSITION PROTESTS GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TBILISI 000271



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



DEPT FOR EUR DAS BRYZA AND EUR/CARC



E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2018

TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, GG

SUBJECT: OPPOSITION PROTESTS GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM



REF: A. TBILISI 229

B. 07 TBILISI 2799



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



1. (C) Summary: On February 14, the government delivered a

memorandum in response to the United National Council of

Opposition's (UNC) 17-point list of demands (ref A) delivered

on January 28. Opposition leaders loudly decried the

government response as inadequate, and held planned, peaceful

and lightly-attended street protests on February 15. The

opposition wishes to discuss and implement their proposal

issue by issue, whereas the government is insisting that no

issue is final until the whole package is agreed. Earlier on

February 15, Republican Party Chairman (and UNC member) David

Usupashvili went over the UNC's objections to the government

response with Poloff. The three most critical areas of

objection are a result of the opposition's demands to: a)

substantially change the composition and officers of the

election commissions, b) create a Parliamentary Oversight

Committee for law enforcement and the Prosecutor General's

office, and c) investigate the events of November 7,

beginning with opposition leader Koba Davitashvili's

kidnapping and beating (ref B). Usupashvili complained that

previously agreed upon points, such as dismissing the

Director of the Public Broadcaster and lowering the election

threshold to 5 percent, are now subject to this general

agreement. At the completion of the February 15 protest, UNC

leader Levan Gachechiladze called for a "nation-wide hunger

strike" beginning on February 22. End Summary.



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Government Issues Memorandum, Opposition Protests

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2. (U) In response to ongoing negotiations with the UNC and

New Rightists/Industrialists opposition parties, the

government on February 14 released a 22-point memorandum to

the opposition. The response addresses the 17 demands issued

jointly by the opposition on January 28, and some additional

points. The government's response calls for a signed

agreement regarding all 22 principles by both sides in order

to implement the proposals. The response was delivered via

Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze's office, which had

been leading the negotiations for the government.



3. (U) After receiving the government's response, opposition

leaders lashed out at the document. Some deemed it

"nonsense." UNC leader and presidential candidate Levan

Gachechiladze publicly decried the response and challenged

Burjanadze to a debate during a live evening interview on

Rustavi-2 television on February 14. MP Davit Gamkrelidze

(Chairman of the New Rightists),said that the document was

"worse than we expected." Opposition leaders uniformly said

they would hold the protests planned for February 15. On

February 15 the Labor party (not party to the ongoing

negotiations) said publicly "the only way to change the

government is nation-wide disobedience."



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Opposition Explains Disappointment

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4. (C) Republican Chairman Usupashvili and Republican leader

Tina Khidasheli met with Poloff and explained in detail the

UNC's objections to the government response on February 15.

Usupashvili (who had met alone with Burjanadze the two

previous days regarding the likely government response) said

the document "is the worst possible version."



5. (C) Usupashvili said that the response includes only one

concrete deadline and was purposefully written in a confusing

manner, with 22 points in response to 17, for example.

Furthermore, the document included some points the opposition

had not addressed: specifically, lowering the threshold for

parties to enter Parliament (from 7 to 5 percent),which the

government agreed to do in 2007. Other points that had been

previously agreed to were also made contingent on this

overarching agreement, including the replacement of the

Director of the Georgian Public Broadcaster.



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Three Main Disagreements

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6. (C) Usupashvili said there are three critical areas of

objection for the opposition. First, changing the

composition and officers of election commissions. The

government memorandum states that District Election

Commissions will be changed to reflect the composition of the

Central Election Commission (which includes a chair appointed



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by the President and approved by Parliament, and 6 members

each from the majority and opposition). Usupashvili said

this ignores the opposition's demand that they have true

parity or allow the opposition to reach consensus with the

majority on the CEC Chairman. Furthermore, he said, there is

no provision to ensure opposition members can hold the

chairman or secretary positions on any of the more than 3,500

Precinct Election Commissions. Finally, the last point in

the document vaguely states that the composition of the CEC

itself will be changed by mid-March, but does not address how

it might be changed to address the opposition's concerns.



7. (C) The opposition's second issue is creating a

Parliamentary oversight committee for law enforcement and the

Prosecutor General's office. Such a bi-partisan committee

would not have punitive powers, but could subpoena witnesses

and evidence and investigate alleged cases of wrongdoing by

officials. Thus, the Parliament could hold these agencies to

account before the people. However, Usupashvili complained

the government's memorandum proposes a commission, including

politicians, that would only oversee ongoing reforms within

these agencies. In regard to actual oversight and

accountability, the government proposed instead an

independent council. Usupashvili said such a council would

be powerless, similar to the Interagency Task Force on

Elections prior to the January 5 election. (Note:

Usupashvili told Poloff he delivered 12 pages of detailed

complaints to the Task Force and has not yet received any

acknowledgment that they have been investigated. End note.)



8. (C) The third major priority for the opposition was a

government accounting for the events of November 7. The

opposition asked for all crimes committed that day to be

investigated. The UNC claims 18 people are detained in

prison for participating in the protests (they claim some are

held on planted drug charges due to lack of evidence),and

that no police officers or government officials have been

investigated for other possible crimes committed that day.

(Note: We know that police officers have been dismissed in

response to investigating their actions on November 11,

although the government is not publicizing this. End note.)

He pointed specifically to opposition leader Koba

Davitashvili's kidnapping and beating. Khidasheli said they

believe Davitashvili's abduction was conducted with

authorization by high-ranking members of the Financial

Police. Despite the widespread knowledge of the crime's

occurrence (he was shown on TV at the hospital),we are

unaware that it has ever been investigated by any law

enforcement agency or the PG's office.



9. (C) Usupashvili said either every crime from November 7

should be investigated or all suspects should be freed. He

said the government's response states that such an

investigation should be conducted only after the new

Parliament is installed and no criminal proceedings should

result from such investigation. Usupashvili said that if the

investigation is pushed into the future, so should be any

possible punishment. In one of the memorandum's firm

deadlines, the government offered to release some of the 18

prisoners (up to 11) in one week's time.



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Additional Problems, Some Agreement

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10. (C) In addition to the above three disagreements, the UNC

also rebuts the memorandum because: it does not agree to

provide cameras in court trials (or access to the

government's existing cameras),it does not provide for

copies of election camera footage, nor does it provide for

review of voting registers in areas of exceedingly high

turnout during the January 5 election (for comparison to

camera footage.) Usupashvili said the government's response

was vetted by President Saakashvili yesterday and the

government would know it would force the UNC into the street.

Usupashvili lamented that he "was counting on Burjanadze. I

hoped she was stronger."



11. (C) There were several points in the memorandum to which

the UNC generally agreed, per Usupashvili. These include

holding the parliamentary elections between May 14 and 24,

installing CCTV cameras in all polling stations, clarifying

the election code (it is understood this will take time),and

overseeing reforms in law enforcement agencies.



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Up to 5,000 Protest

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12. (C) Regardless of the government's response, the

opposition had planned to protest on February 15.



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Approximately 3,000 to 5,000 protesters were present at 1600

hours, two hours after it began. At the protest,

Gachechiladze announced the UNC had called for a "nation-wide

hunger strike" beginning on February 22. The protest

dispersed at 1730 hours.

TEFFT