Brussels, 26/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 25 January, Georgian NGOs called on the European Union to observe the coverage of the elections planned in Georgia for October 2016.
“The EU can play an essential role in following the coverage of the elections (…) because Georgia does not have a tradition of editorial independence” for the media, said Tamar Kintsurashvili, the head of the Media Development Foundation, at a hearing on human rights in the European Parliament's subcommittee on human rights. “Freedom of the media is particularly important as regards the elections”, she said. While reforms to improve the freedom of the media have been achieved and have made progress, Kintsurashvili stated that there were “attempts of political interference in the media, especially in programmes critical of the government”. “The transparency of financing is also a situation that needs to be taken into account”, she said, criticising the hate speech by certain members of the government, and the “media being helped by the government to spread hate messages”.
The NGO representatives also spoke about the situation of justice in Georgia. George Tugushi, the leader of the Georgian Democracy Initiative and former Georgian ombudsman, highlighted the problem of the judiciary's politicisation. In his view, in 12 cases involving the opposition, including the former mayor of Tbilisi, the former president and the minister of the interior, “there are several flaws”. He also spoke out against the abuse of preventive detention. “Most of the attacks against members of the opposition are not the subject of an investigation”, he added. Tugushi also criticised the pressure on some judges, including those of the Constitutional Court, and the fact that no investigation has been conducted. In addition, the new procedures regarding the Prosecutor's Office were criticised by the Georgian NGOs because these procedures are not in line with international standards on transparency, Tugushi stated. In Kintsurashvili's view, “the EU could play an important role concerning media affairs, and Europeans could send judges to observe this process”.
Thomas Von Handel, from the Georgia office of the European External Action Service, described 2016 as a “crucial” year due to the parliamentary elections in 2016. “But the situation seems positive to us. We will continue to promote an inclusive political environment, which will allow organisation of the elections in line with international standards”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)