The sanctions imposed by the U.S. on the Georgian judges, Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, and Irakli Shengelia; a former judge, Valerian Tsertsvadze; and the former Chief Prosecutor, Otar Partskhaladze, have not been followed by effective steps on the part of the Georgian authorities. On the contrary, since the moment of sanctioning, the authorities have been actively defending the interests of those sanctioned, disregarding the legislation and trying to downplay the negative consequences caused by the sanctions by conducting anti-Western propaganda.
We believe that both cases of sanctioning took place for alarming reasons. The Georgian society has been talking about the existence of corruption and political interests in Georgia’s judicial system for many years. The sanctioning of judges by the U.S. State Department due to their involvement in corrupt activities is one more piece of important evidence in this regard. In addition, the public was aware of Otar Partskhaladze’s informal influences on Georga’s political and business circles. The lenient attitude of law enforcement agencies towards him was bewildering. For years, his name was associated with a number of criminal acts, although he was not held responsible in any of the cases. And in the statement released by the U.S. Treasury on September 14, the accusation of activities for the benefit of Russian special services was added to all this. The law enforcement agencies have not provided an effective response to this issue; moreover, they allowed Otar Partskhaladze to leave the country.
Not only is that the sanctions imposed by the U.S. were not followed by a response; the acting President of the National Bank of Georgia, Natia Turnava, tailored the rule of enforcement of sanctions to the former Chief Prosecutor accused of cooperation with Russian special services, which is one more concrete example of state capture manifested in action.
We think that the Georgian authorities are apparently protecting the persons sanctioned by the U.S. Naturally, such an approach causes further damage to the country’s reputation and to the trust of international partners towards the Georgian authorities.
We call on the Georgian authorities to stop protecting the interests of the sanctioned persons and distancing the country from the Western space by doing so, provide an adequate response, and take concrete steps to redress the damage caused to the country by the fact of sanctioning.
Signatory organizations:
- Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia)
- Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)
- International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
- Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)
- Social Justice Center (SJC)
- Rights Georgia
- Human Rights Center (HRC)
- Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF)
- Georgian Court Watch
- Democracy Research Institute (DRI)
- Sapari
- Civic IDEA
- Europe-Georgia Institute (EGI)
- Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC)
- Media Development Foundation (MDF)
- Society and Banks
- Green Alternative
- Equality Movement
- Tbilisi Pride
- GrlzWave
- Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)
- Atlantic Council of Georgia
- Democracy Defenders
- Franklin Club
- Georgia’s Future Academy
- Reforms and Research Group
- Chavchavadze Center
- Institute of Democracy
- Research Institute Gnomon Wise
- Civic Engagement and Activism Center (CEAC)
- Tsertili
- Promote Georgia
- Kvemo Kartli Media
- Association Deserving Old Age
- Civic Movement for Freedom
- Media and Communication Educational-Research Center “Media Voice”
- Child Welfare League
- Abkhazia news
- Generations Empowerment Network
- Women Fund “Sukhumi”
- May Movement
- Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG)
- GEUT
- Employment and Training Center
- Civic Movement Chiatura of the Future
- Komli
- Civic Activity Center – Lakmus
- Women’s Fund in Georgia (WFG)
- EuroClub Kvareli
- Democracy Index – Sakartvelo
- Association IDPs for IDPs
