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Human Rights Watch points to “setbacks” for media freedom in Georgia

Society
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Freedom of the media suffered setbacks, with numerous attacks against media professionals and the jailing of a critical TV director, said the Human Rights Watch in its recent survey over last year’s events. 

The report said other areas of concern included lack of accountability for law enforcement abuses, illegal surveillance, unfair labor conditions, and violence against women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

The report said in December 2021, the Georgian parliament “hastily abolished” the State Inspector’s Service, an independent body investigating abuses by law enforcement, instead establishing two new separate bodies tasked with probing abuse of power by law enforcement and monitoring data privacy, respectively.

“The sudden decision followed the opening of an investigation by the state inspector into possible ill-treatment and violations of data protection laws regarding jailed ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili”, said the organization. 

It noted the country’s public defender’s office had received 70 complaints of ill-treatment by prison staff or police. “The authorities have been investigating 61 of them. The office petitioned the investigative body to launch investigations into the remaining cases. None had resulted in criminal prosecution at time of writing”. 

The report said in June, parliament “hastily adopted” a controversial surveillance bill sponsored by the ruling party, with the bill “authorizes indefinite wiretapping and other surveillance against individuals, without notifying them, in relation to 77 offenses, which now include trafficking, inhuman or degrading treatment and drug-related crimes”.

Speaking about media, Human Rights Watch said in May, a court sentenced Nika Gvaramia, director of Mtavari Arkhi TV—a leading critical TV channel—to three years and six months in prison for abuse of power over managerial decisions while he was director of another private TV company. 

“The authorities claimed that his managerial decisions brought less profit to the company. The decision was largely criticized by Georgian civil society as unlawful and politically motivated. Georgia’s public defender argued that a decision by the director of an enterprise, even a harmful one, cannot be subject to criminal liability, and called for the case to be dismissed. In November, the appeals court upheld the decision”, said the report, noting there were “numerous attacks” against journalists and instances of interference in their work.

The report stressed despite recent legislative improvements, fair labor conditions remained a concern in Georgia. 

“Wages are effectively unregulated, leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation. The minimum monthly wage of 20 GEL (approximately US$7) is 12 times lower than the subsistence minimum and has not been updated since 1999”, it said.

The survey highlighted workplace safety also remained a problem., with 23 workers dead and 230 injured in work-related accidents from January through September.

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Georgia continue to face harassment, discrimination, and violence”, said the report, noting in May, a group of some 30 men attacked five transgender women in their home in Tbilisi. 

In relation to women’s rights, the watchdog said the prosecutor’s office had reported 13 cases of femicide and 11 attempted murders of women by family members from January through August.

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