NGOs discuss justice, media environment, Gvaramia’s arrest with senior policy advisor to US Secretary of State

Georgia’s justice, “presence of a clan in the country’s court system,” and the recent imprisonment of the head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel Nika Gvaramia were discussed by Georgian NGOs at a meeting with Derek Chollet, senior policy advisor to the US Secretary of State on Thursday, head of Georgia’s Young Lawyers’ Association Nika Simonishvili said after the meeting in Tbilisi.

 

“At this meeting, we mainly provided information and they (Chollet and his delegation members) had specific questions about the justice system, how the justice system is actually run. Of course, we talked about the ‘clan’ in the judiciary. We also talked about Nika Gvaramia’s case, as an example of how the authorities use the court for political prosecution.” Simonishvili said.

 

He stated that Chollet has not expressed his views at the meeting.

 

Head of Transparency International Georgia Eka Gigauri suggested that Gvaramia’s case, who was imprisoned earlier this week for abuse of power while managing  Rustavi 2 TV, was not an isolated case.

 

“This is not an isolated case, it is directly related to the media environment, it is directly related to our justice system, it is directly related to how the government is fighting a different opinion today because Gvaramia is unjustly imprisoned, he did nothing to imprison him,” Gigauri said.

 

Guram Macharashvili, a member of the parliamentary majority, said that  “everyone should accept that Georgia is a sovereign country and that the rule of law is crucial.”

 

“Many countries, including those in the European Union, have undergone judicial reforms which was not a process without mistakes in many cases. However, none of the states had considered replacing the judiciary by someone’s views, the views of NGOs, etc.,” Macharashvili said.

 

Chollet is scheduled to complete his meetings in Georgia tomorrow.