Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TBILISI271
2008-02-15 14:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tbilisi
Cable title:  

OPPOSITION PROTESTS GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM

Tags:  GG KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSI #0271/01 0461443
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 151443Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY TBILISI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8898
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TBILISI 000271 

SIPDIS

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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).

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.

-------------- --------------
Government Issues Memorandum, Opposition Protests
-------------- --------------

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 proposa
ls. 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."

--------------
Opposition Explains Disappointment
--------------

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.

--------------
Three Main Disagreements
--------------

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

TBILISI 00000271 002 OF 003


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.

--------------
Additional Problems, Some Agreement
--------------

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.

--------------
Up to 5,000 Protest
--------------

12. (C) Regardless of the government's response, the
opposition had planned to protest on February 15.

TBILISI 00000271 003.2 OF 003


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