GEORGIA: DRL A/S POSNER AND EUR DAS KADINOW HEAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 002138

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: DRL A/S POSNER AND EUR DAS KADINOW HEAR
CIVIL SOCIETY AND OPPOSITION CONCERNS

Classified By: Ambassador John R. Bass for Reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary: In preparation for the Democracy Working
Group, under the auspices of the U.S.-Georgia Strategic
Partnership Commission, members of the U.S. delegation met
with leading civil society representatives and opposition
political leaders who expressed concerns in several areas,
including that the government is pursuing reforms at the
expense of democratic process, authorities are not properly
implementing plea bargaining, the government is excessively
influencing the media, and independent media is unable to
develop and become self-sustaining because advertisers are
afraid to support independent media directly. Opposition
politicians expressed concern about what they viewed as a
lack of democratic development and focused on the work of the
electoral law working group, upcoming local elections, the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the media environment.
End
Summary.

CIVIL SOCIETY: MEDIA FREEDOM AND JUDICIAL TRANSPARENCY TOP
PRIORITIES


2. (C) On November 17, delegation co-chairs DRL A/S Posner
and EUR DAS Kaidanow opened the meeting by asking each civil
society representative how the GoG was performing in areas of
importance to the civil society community. A/S Posner and
DAS Kaidanow also asked the civil society representatives to
discuss concrete ways to improve the democratic environment
in Georgia. Expressing appreciation for the government's
efforts to reduce corruption, and citing Georgia's improved
performance in the newly released Transparency International
(TI) Corruption Perception Index report, Tamuna Karosanidze
of TI raised concerns that transparency was being sacrificed
for speed in government reforms, asserting that the
government had put democracy on hold in order to implement
reforms. Karosanidze noted that
the GoG could look for ways to further engage civil society
whether it be in formal proceedings or informal venues.
Giorgi Chkheidze of the Georgian Young Lawyer's
Association(GYLA) stressed the need for legislation to
protect judges
from internal influence and promote transparency in both
judicial appointments and disciplinary proceedings. Both
Karosanidze and Chkheidze highlighted concerns about the
implementation of plea bargaining, with Chkheidze stressing
the need for a public education campaign on the new criminal
procedure code.


3. (C) Shorena Shaverdashvili, editor of Liberali Magazine,
suggested that previous USG assistance programs in the media
field focused mainly on journalists. Shaverdashvili
suggested that training media managers in the basics of
running a for-profit media outlet would greatly improve the
professionalism of managers and viability of independent
media outlets. Shaverdashvili also stressed the need for
transparency regarding media ownership noting specifically
that the opaque nature of television ownership was not
conducive to a free and open media environment. She focused
on the monopolization of funds and domination of the media
environment by the political enviroment, noting a lack of
free flowing advertising revenues, with funds going to
stations loyal to the government. Lasha Tugushi, editor of
Resonanzi
newspaper and head of the Georgian editors' association,
expanded on the importance of transparency in media
ownership, stating that when changes are made in ownership it
becomes particularly important to know whether there was any
Qbecomes particularly important to know whether there was any
government influence or coercion in the process.
Shaverdashvili commented that unity in the NGO community is
prevented by the polarization of civil society groups amongst
each other, and lack of ability to come to consensus and
mutual agreement on specific issues on which to focus. She
observed that when civil society organizes, results can be
achieved.

OPPOSITION POLITICIANS: FOCUS ON LOCAL ELECTIONS AND MINISTRY
OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS


4. (C) In the roundtable with opposition politicians held on
the same day, Irakli Alasania, leader of the Alliance
stressed the importance of the Tbilisi mayoral election
scheduled for May 2010. Alasania stated that Tbilisi was a
"polarized city, and needs a mayor elected in the eyes of
society who has legitimacy." To this end, he stressed the
importance of progress in the dialogue within the electoral
code working group, noting that the credibility of
negotiation would be undermined in the absence of progress.
He specifically emphasized the importance of a 50 percent
threshold to achieve the election of a mayor viewed as

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legitimate, and the selection of the head of the electoral
commission and of local precinct commissions. Alasania stated
that it was important that precinct officials like the
secretary or deputy be an opposition party member to serve as
a check on undue GoG influence in the election process. He
highlighted concerns about the impact of the media
environment on the local elections, alleging that all three
national television channels are under heavy government
pressure. Alasania also reported that for the past two
months there has been tremendous pressure on businesses
providing support to the moderate opposition. Former Speaker
of Parliament Nino Burjanadze, leader of Democratic
Movement-United Georgia, expressed her opinion about a lack
of transparency by the GoG as to how the billion dollars of
pledged assistance from the USG has been spent in Georgia
(Embassy note: Embassy officials have repeatedly provided her
publicly available information to track the pledge. End
Note). Additionally, she expressed concern regarding the
unstable security environment with Russia. Burjanadze said
that she had no confidence that local elections would change
much in Georgia, stating that she did not know of any country
where local elections have solved problems as grave as those
currently in Georgia.


5. (C) Giorgi Targamadze, leader of the
Christian-Democrats, expressed concern about the lack of
institutional checks on President Saakashvili's authority
leading to a system where effectively only one person is
making political decisions. Targamadze stated that his
approach was to work within the system to develop
institutional checks and balances which would limit
Saakashvili's authority. Alasania then asked whether the
Democracy Working Group could establish a mechanism to
monitor the Ministry of Internal Affairs through the 2010
elections. The discussion shifted to the November 2007
government crackdown against protesters and Imedi television,
prompting A/S Posner to express his concern about a lack of
public confidence that the GoG had fully and openly
investigated the events and held participants publicly
accountable for their actions if warranted. Targamadze
stated that discussions in Parliament had gone nowhere
because the parliamentary majority had no interest in
punishing these actors. Other opposition members expressed
their agreement that a lack of public accounting had damaged
the GoG's credibility, with Burjanadze reporting that during
the opposition demonstrations this spring, two individuals
had been blinded and others seriously injured, with no
accountability. The government claimed they did not know
their identities (the attackers were masked),but, Alasania
believed that the government had "sub-contracted out." He
also highlighted concerns about government surveillance and
phone-tapping, to which Gachechiladze added that he no longer
used his mobile phone for this reason. DAS Kaidanow
concluded the discussion by asking the participants to
consider the need for opposition politicians to work together
in order to achieve their goals. DAS Kaidanow noted that
such cooperation would provide the opposition with political
leverage and stressed the importance of exercising it
effectively in order to get the government to respond to
opposition concerns. She ended the discussion by noting that
criticism of the government was important but that finding
Qcriticism of the government was important but that finding
constructive solutions to democratic shortcomings was also an
essential part of being an effective political opposition.


6. (U) A/S Posner and DAS Kaidanow cleared this cable.
BASS