Georgian NGOs address US senators with letter, 'calling for greater involvement in resolution of crisis in Georgia'
The signatories to the letter are Transparency International Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the Open Society Georgia Foundation, and Liberal Academy Tbilisi. Photo: IPN.
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In an open letter to the US senators, Georgian non-governmental organisations are calling for the United States for greater involvement in resolution of the political crisis in Georgia.
The letter reads that prolongation of the crisis in Georgia after the Parliamentary elections only benefits the Kremlin at a time when the country is facing serious geopolitical threats, while resolving the crisis and ensuring the country’s democratic development are important factors for Georgia’s quick accession to the Euro-Atlantic structures.
In February, Georgian Dream-led authorities decided to arrest the leader of the biggest opposition party, the United National Movement, turning a political impasse into a full-blown crisis. On top of many failed reforms in the areas of Judiciary, Anti-corruption policy, and Elections, the unwillingness of the ruling political party elite to share power and responsibility with the opposition, has led to single-party dominance over all branches of government”, reads the letter addressed to Senator Jeane Shaheen, Chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, and Senator Ron Johnson.
NGOs are asking for the US Senators’ assistance in the achievement of the following goals:
- Increase US engagement in supporting EU efforts to mediate a solution to the current crisis. Make clear that the status quo – virtually a single-party parliament – is incompatible with membership in the Euro-Atlantic community;
- Deescalate the crisis by releasing the defendants and terminating cases (Nika Melia, Giorgi Rurua), which, on subsequent stages, shall be adjudicated by a reformed judiciary;
- Push for judicial and electoral reform;
- Encourage power-sharing within various institutions, including the Parliament. Opposition consent should be required when confirming the General Auditor and the Prosecutor General.
- Once the ruling party makes these commitments to the Georgian people and the international partners, the opposition must take up the parliamentary seats won in the 2020 elections, engage in institutionalised politics, and participate in both the development and the implementation of the reforms described above.
- EU-mediated talks between Georgian political parties fail again
The signatories to the letter are Transparency International Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, the Open Society Georgia Foundation, and Liberal Academy Tbilisi.
The leader of the United National Movement opposition party (UNM) Nika Melia was refused bail earlier today. The Judge of Tbilisi City Court Nino Chakhnashvili dismissed Melia from the courtroom because Melia called her ‘a slave’ (of the current government). The opposition parties which have been demanding Melia’s release for about two months have stated earlier today that the government ‘is not willing to ease the current political tension’ and that Melia ‘remains a political prisoner.’
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition have failed to come to an agreement in EU-mediated talks for the second time. The document offered by EU mediator Christian Danielsson yesterday which concerned ‘ambitious electoral and judicial reform’ and offered amnesty for suspects and convicts of the June 2019 protests in Tbilisi was not signed by any of the parties.
The Georgian Parliament has suspended opposition MP and the new chair of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia earlier today per the request of the Prosecutor’s Office.
Twenty Georgian opposition parties released a joint statement earlier today in which they said that the recent conviction of a co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua has political grounds.
The US Department of State is ‘disappointed’ that the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition have not yet come to an agreement to ease the current political tension in Georgia, Voice of America (VoA) cites the US Department of State as saying.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has signed a EU-proposed agreement by mediator Christian Danielsson earlier today which concerns ‘ambitious electoral and judicial reform’ and offers amnesty for suspects and convicts of the June 19 protests in Tbilisi, including the currently imprisoned head of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia. The Georgian Dream party and the opposition failed to sign the same agreement at the end of March 2021, following the second arrival of Danielsson to help the parties come to an agreement.
The European Council President Charles Michel will visit Georgia in the afternoon to meet with the leaders of the political parties who signed his proposal yesterday in Tbilisi to solve the political tension in the country which began following the 2020 parliamentary elections. The proposal by Michel covers electoral and justice reforms, offers pardon for all violations and convictions stemming from the 19-21 June 2019 protests and the conduct of repeat parliamentary elections in 2022 if the ruling party fails to receive at least 43 per cent of votes in this year’s municipal elections.