GEORGIA: PARLIAMENT'S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 000594 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2019 TAGS: PHUM PGOV GG SUBJECT: GEORGIA: PARLIAMENT'S HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE WORKS--BUT NOT FEVERISHLY Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F TEFFT FOR REASNS 1.4(B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Summary and Comment: At a March 17 meeting, Parliament's Human Rights Committee Chairman Gia Arsenishvili told Emboffs that the priorities of his committee are passage of the criminal procedure code (CPC),reforms in the penitentiary/parole systems, and concerns about the lack of Georgian language instruction for Georgian students in Gali, Abkhazia. Arsenishvili did not offer any feedback on post's 2008 Human Rights Report, but said he hoped to issue a report in upcoming months which would address allegations stated in the latest Ombudsman's report. Arsenishvili pledged to work closely with post on human rights issues in the future. End Summary and Comment. The Committee's Focus ¶2. (C) Arsenishvili, MP Marika Verulashvili and MP Armenak Baiandaryan met with DCM and poloff to discuss the committee's work. Verulashvili, Arsenishvili's deputy, also works as the Presidential Administration's Press Spokesperson. The eleven-member committee contains one Parliamentary-Opposition MP, Dmitri Lortkipanize, from the political party "Powerful Georgia." The committee is focusing on ensuring passage of the new criminal procedure code (establishing jury trials among other provisions), reforms in the probation system (to include a new law on parole),juvenile justice and human rights in Gali District. The DCM asked when the CPC would likely be passed and Arsenishvili said most likely by the end of June. (Comment: Post posed this question to various GoG officials and answers vary from April to June. Currently DOJ is planning to bring judges from the U.S. to help with the implementation, once the law is passed. The arrival of the judges will be contingent on the law passing. End Comment.) Arsenishvili portrayed his committee as key to the CPC passage, but in actuality his committee will only be responsible for coordinating on the human rights issues associated with the draft. ¶3. (C) Poloff asked Arsenishvili if his committee would be publishing semi-annual reports. (Comment: Prior to November 2007 protests, the committee published reports regularly. These reports have not been published for the past two years, and would provide useful input for the HRR. End Comment.) Arsenishvili said that his committee would most likely be issuing a report to address some of the allegations listed in the Ombudsman's latest report, although he did not give a timeline. Arsenishvili did not offer any feedback on post's 2008 Human Rights Report. Comment ¶4. (C) Arsenishvili, a mathematician and former governor of Kakheti, is respected for his smarts and lack of involvement in corrupt practices. Arsenishvili is an anachronism among the other committee heads, an elderly Shevardnadze hold-over and non-English speaker. Upon meeting Arsenishvili the first time nearly a year ago, Poloff asked what the priorities of the committee would be. At that time, Arsenishvili said he was still formulating the policy but most likely it would be minority integration. Indeed during post's meeting, Arsenishvili pointed out several times that the committee contained Georgian ethnic Armenians, as evidenced by Baiandaryan's presence. Some speculate that perhaps Arsenishvili was appointed because he would live up to low expectations and that the Human Rights Committee would not take on much. In this meeting, Arsenishvili did nothing to dispel that impression. It is more likely that Verulashvili will be the promising committee member with whom post can Qwill be the promising committee member with whom post can liase, as she seemed very interested in working with post regarding women's and children's issues. TEFFT