GEO 006 / 1106 / OBS 141
Judicial proceedings / Harassment
Georgia
November 30, 2006
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Georgia.
The Observatory has been informed by the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center (HRIDC) about judicial proceedings against Mr. Giorgi Getsadze, a member of the Public Defender’s Office in Georgia.
According to the information received, Mr. Giorgi Getsadze is being prosecuted for “taking illegal actions while studying a case” under Article 145 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (“provocation of a crime”, i.e. “persuading others to commit a crime for the purpose of his/her criminal prosecution”). These proceedings would be founded on the basis of telephone conversations overheard by Georgian law enforcement bodies, during which Mr. Giorgi Getsadze was telling one of his colleagues about his visit in Geguti Penitentiary Establishment n°8.
A couple of weeks before, a former employee of the Getuti Penitentiary Establishment n°8 had denounced the existence of money transfers to detainees. He described those as acts of corruption to the Public Defender’s Office. On November 1, 2006, in order to verify these allegations, Mr. Giorgi Getsadze visited the penitentiary establishment where he interviewed many people.
According to the accusations, Mr. Giorgi Getsadze would allegedly have offered money to the prison staff during his visit in order to obtain information. The member of the Public Defender’s Office claimed that he only asked the prison staff about the possibility to transmit some money to detainees inside of the penitentiary establishment, to verify the dependability of the denunciations of corruption.
Mr. Giorgi Getsadze faces one to three years of imprisonment or “restriction of freedom” (placement in a corrective centre)[1], under Article 145 of the Criminal Code.
Since the beginning of 2006, the Public Defender’s Office has been denouncing human rights violations in Georgian penitentiary establishments to the General Prosecutor’s Office. Although investigations were launched, no sanction has been taken yet.
The Observatory expresses its concern about these judicial proceedings which seem to be only intended to intimidate Mr. Giorgi Getsadze and to prevent him from carrying out his work in favour of the respect of human rights in Georgia.
Please write to the authorities in Georgia urging them to:
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Georgia in your respective country.
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Geneva - Paris, November 30, 2006
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
[1] In practice, restriction of freedom as a sanction has been used very seldom.
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