GEORGIA: OPPOSITION MEMBERS IN KIRBALI ALLEGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 000626

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: OPPOSITION MEMBERS IN KIRBALI ALLEGE
UNWARRANTED POLICE QUESTIONING

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


1. (C) Summary and comment. Residents of the village of
Kirbali associated with the oppostion told OSCE that
sometime during the week of March 15-21, local police
officers approached them at their homes in the evening and
asked questions for no apparent reason. Details of the
report are sketchy, because the military monitors do not
focus on these types of issues, and the rest of the OSCE
mission -- including its political and human rights officers
-- feel hamstrung by the limbo of having no mandate. The
Ministry of Internal Affairs denied the incident to Emboff,
saying that police forces do run evening patrols through the
village (which is just south of the South Ossetian
administrative boundary),but have not questioned any locals
recently. It is difficult to judge the veracity of the
report without access to first-hand information. Growing
apprehension about the April 9 protests, however, and their
potential impact on the areas adjacent to the administrative
boundary could explain a misunderstanding on one or both
sides. Post will continue to urge restraint on all sides.
End summary and comment.


2. (C) According to OSCE sources, on March 24, OSCE military
monitors on a daytime patrol in Kirbali, a village just south
of the administrative boundary and east of Tskhinvali, were
approached by group of local residents. The residents
identified themselves as members of the opposition. They
said that during the previous week, police officers arrived
in the village with a list of residents who support the
opposition, which reportedly originated from the previous
election, Then, later in the week, the police approached
some of those on the list in the evening at their homes with
some questions. The residents described the questions as
innocuous and did not allege any mistreatment, but such an
approach by the police seemed unusual and arbitrary to them,
and they therefore wanted to inform the OSCE monitors.
According to the OSCE, there was no suggestion that the
police officers were plainclothes officers, nor was there any
question that they were police officers. In a conversation
with EmbOff, an OSCE monitor agreed that approaching
villagers in the evening at their homes was unusual and could
be perceived, however innocuous the questions, as an effort
to intimidate.


3. (C) EmbOff called Shota Utiashvili, Director of the
Interior Ministry Analytical Department, to ask about the
incident. He was unaware of it, but made some inquiries. He
later told EmbOff that the local police told him that they
had conducted evening patrols in Kirbali in the timeframe
described, as is their normal practice, but had not conducted
any such questioning. (Note: All villages located in close
proximity to the administrative boundary are subject to
heightened tension, and the police normally maintain a
visible, daily presence in them. Residents of such sensitive
areas will even complain to international monitors if they
perceive an insufficient police presence in their village.
End note.)


4. (C) As an OSCE political officer explained, the military
monitors normally focus on military movements and issues.
Although they accepted the information, they did not conduct
extensive interviews with the individuals or take other
actions (such as questioning the local police) to pursue the
report more vigorously. They are also unlikely to take any
Qreport more vigorously. They are also unlikely to take any
specific steps to follow up, other than send another patrol
through the village according to their normal schedule. The
OSCE personnel who would normally focus more on such issues,
the political and human rights officers, are still working at
the main office in Tbilisi, but without a real mandate, so
they feel constrained in their ability to operate.

COMMENT: THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY


5. (C) Without direct access to the villagers themselves or
the police officers who normally conduct patrols in the area,
it is difficult to determine what exactly happened, if
anything. An OSCE monitor did note, however, that he has
recently perceived an increase in apprehension along the
boundary in connection with the impending April 9 protests.
Villagers are concerned that, if local police officers are
pulled away from the boundary area to help monitor the
protests, South Ossetian militia or other forces from north
of the boundary could try to take advantage of the resulting
vacuum and cross the boundary and instigate trouble. Post
will continue to urge restraint on all sides as we approach
April 9.
TEFFT