What does the US 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights read about Georgia?

The US Department of State has released its 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights which, along with other countries, reviews the issues related to human rights in Georgia. 

 

It said that there were no reports in 2021 that the Georgian government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. In the section titled “torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment,” the  report said that while the constitution and law prohibit such practices in Georgia, there were reports government officials employed them. 

 

“The public defender’s report for 2020, published in April, noted that ineffective investigations continued to be a significant obstacle to fighting mistreatment by government officials,” said the report. 

 

The report cited the Georgian Public Defender’s Office as saying that on November 11, 2021, the Ministry of Justice of Georgia violated the prisoner’s right to honor, dignity, and privacy by releasing video footage showing the placement of  the country’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili in a medical facility against his will, seminaked, and in a degrading condition.” 

 

“According to the State Inspector’s Service (SIS), the video recordings requested for the investigation had not been provided to SIS by the State  Penitentiary Service (SPS) but had been disclosed to the public. 

 

The Public Defender’s Office further alleged that “SPS restricted the 3rd President of Georgia (Saakashvili) from participating in his own trial, which violated the right to a fair trial enshrined in the Constitution of Georgia, since Saakashvili had not been allowed to appear before court on three occasions since his arrest and imprisonment,” said the report. 

 

The report also mentioned the abolishment of SIS and replacing it with two separate agencies to investigate abuse of power by law enforcement officials and to protect personal data were scheduled to be established. 

 

“In contrast to the previous mandate to investigate all law enforcement equally, the law does not authorize the new investigative agency to investigate certain crimes committed by prosecutors, such as murder and bodily harm. As part of the reorganization, the State Inspector was scheduled to be removed from office in March 2022, despite the fact that she had three years remaining in her constitutionally mandated term,” said the report.

 

The report stated that while overall prison and detention facility conditions were adequate, conditions in some older facilities lacked sufficient ventilation, natural light, minimum living space, and adequate health care. 

 

“Prison conditions in Russian-occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia were reported to be chronically substandard.” 

 

It said that the country’s constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention and provide for the right of any person to challenge the lawfulness of his or her arrest or detention in court. 

 

“The government’s observance of these prohibitions was uneven, and reports of selective or arbitrary arrests continued,” said the report.

 

It also reads that there remained indications of interference in judicial independence and impartiality. 

 

“Judges were vulnerable to political pressure from within and outside the judiciary on cases involving politically sensitive subjects or individuals.”

 

The report stated that In Russian-occupied Abkhazia, the de facto legal system prohibits property claims by ethnic Georgians who left Abkhazia before, during, or after the 1992-93 war, thereby depriving internally displaced persons of their property rights.
It stated that property rights were also violated in Georgia’s other occupied Tskhinvali region.