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