Georgia

Georgia is located at the eastern end of the Black Sea on the southern flanks of the main crest of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. It is bounded on the north and northeast by Russia, on the east and southeast by Azerbaijan, on the south by Armenia and Türkiye, and on the west by the Black Sea. Old churches, castles and ruins of cities are built into the clips and are traces of past civilizations in a country that Knut Hamsun called Æventyrland (fairyland). Fairy is also the hospitality and the speaks of cheers that meets visitors. Georgia has an excellent kitchen in addition to ancient wine-traditions.

Georgia today

Georgia is one of the former Soviet republics that for a time made great progress in the direction of becoming a democracy with respect for human rights. The freedom of speech was never gagged completely. Civil society has also shown strength and has taken to the streets in order to fight against abuse of power.

Since the ruling party Georgian Dream (GD), led and founded by the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, came to power in 2012, and especially after the 2016 parliamentary elections, the political field has been monopolized by GD, which employed clear signs of the selective justice by launching criminal investigations against media owners and/or representatives and opposition leaders alongside with the politization of law enforcement agencies. The last years the Georgian Parliament have adopted Russian-inspired laws, including so called foreign agent law, that will affect all organisations and media that receive more than 20% support from abroad, as well as anti-LGBTIQ+ propaganda law, and an offshore law that secures tax freedom for oligarchs.

The anti-democratic measures have triggered large-scale peaceful street protests in Tbilisi, where police have responded with excessive force against demonstrators.

The European Union (EU) granted Georgia well-deserved candidate status in December 2023 after mass demonstrations in support of the EU-membership. However, the membership path was put on hold due to the recent laws adopted by the parliament.

History

Georgia was incorporated into the Russian regime in 1795. As an interlude, Georgia was an independent state after the 1917 revolution, until the Red Army again possessed the country and made it part of the Soviet Union. From 1921 to 1991, Georgia was part of the USSR. Some of the Soviet Union’s most famous and feared leaders, such as Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria, were Georgian. In the nineteen eighties, however, the need for independence again resurrected – led by the Georgian Helsinki Committee’s leader, Zviad Gamsakhurdia. He later became the first president of Georgia.

Georgia was one of the first Soviet republics to take steps towards independence. This process was accelerated by the events of 9 April 1989, when Soviet Soldiers brutally crushed a peaceful rally in Tbilisi, killing 21 protestors. On 31 March 1991, a referendum on the restoration of the country’s independence was overwhelmingly approved.

In March 1992, Eduard Shevardnadze (Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1991) was elected as the second head of state. After Georgia’s independence, the economy collapsed, and the purchasing power of the population dropped about ninety per cent. In addition, nationalistic, paramilitary groups tied to the mafia trampled into the streets. In the background, a potential conflict with Russia lured as Russian troops still remained in the country.

This resulted in a number of bloody and armed conflicts. The coast-region, Abkhazia and the mountain-region, South Ossetia, detached from Georgia with Russian help. Hundreds of thousands escaped from ethnic cleansing. A new war in 2008 fortified Russia’s control over the two regions, even though, according to international law, the regions still belonged to Georgia.

The Revolution of Roses

In 2003, Shevardnadze was deposed by the Rose Revolution, after Georgian opposition and international monitors asserted that 2 November parliamentary elections were marred by fraud. Mikheil Saakashvili was elected as President of Georgia in 2004.

Following the Rose Revolution, a series of reforms were launched to strengthen the country’s military and economic capabilities, as well as to reorient its foreign policy westwards. The country’s newly pro-Western stance, along with accusations of Georgian involvement in the Second Chechen War, resulted in a severe deterioration of relations with Russia, fueled also by Russia’s open assistance and support to the two secessionist areas.

Russian-Georgian War in 2008

In July and August local conflicts in South Ossetia escalated. There were a series of provocations and tensions backed by Russian and Georgian military countermeasures. President Saakashvili sent troops into South Ossetia. On 7 August Russia launched air strikes, also attacking civilian areas, and threatened to attack the capital, Tbilisi.

On August 12th, a ceasefire agreement entered into force, negotiated by the EU and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. During the five-day war, more than 400 persons, including 228 civilians from Georgia, were killed. There was a large-scale ethnic cleansing in areas under Russian control. Around 30,000 ethnic Georgians were displaced and are still unable to return to their homes. Violations against the population involved crimes such as extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, deprivation of liberty, destruction of property, and robbery.

Russia has since effectively maintained control over Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions and has recognized both as independent countries. Over 20 percent of Georgia is still occupied by Russia. During the illegal so-called “borderisation” process, Georgian citizens have been abducted, tortured, and killed along the barbed-wire fence built by the Russian forces. The NHC has led several fact-finding missions to the areas. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has investigated alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in war in Georgia in 2008.

Georgian Dream

In October 2012, the newly founded Georgian Dream party won the parliamentary elections, marking the first peaceful electoral transfer of power in Georgia. Georgian Dream was founded, led and financed by tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man, who was subsequently elected by parliament as new Prime Minister.  Though Ivanishvili stepped aside from the government in 2013 he has since been called the informal leader of Georgia, arranging political reappointments from behind the scenes.  The billionaire has officially returned to and is actively involved in politics.

Former president Saakashvili left Georgia shortly after the election but was convicted in absentia on corruption charges and abuse of power, which he denied. Saakashvili was arrested on his return from exile in October 2021.

NHC and Georgia

The NHC has engaged in Georgia since the country’s first elections in 1995 as part of the election observation mission.  NHC also documented war crimes and has found that no real investigation had taken took place in neither Georgia nor Russia after mapping out crimes of war in 2008. This caused the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation in Georgia in 2016. This was the first time ICC investigated a country outside of Africa.

On June 30, 2022, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber issued arrest warrants for three individuals in the context of the situation in Georgia: Mr Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev, Mr Gamlet Guchmazov and Mr David Georgiyevich Sanakoev. At the relevant time, the suspects held mid- and high-level positions in the de facto South Ossetian administration, and all three are alleged to have been involved in war crimes in which ethnic Georgians were arrested in the South Ossetian region of Georgia, then detained, mistreated, and held in harsh conditions at a detention center in Tskhinvali. ICC Investigation was closed on 16 December 2022.

NHC cooperates with several local organizations, and Human Rights Center has been the main partner since 2006. NHC was also represented in the international council of The Public Defender’s Office, which was Georgia’s national institution for human rights, from 2013 until 2017. NHC has also cooperated with local LGBTIQ-groups since 2015.

Timeline:

• 4^th century B.C.: King Parnavaz I established the first eastern Georgian state
• 1089: Davit IV become monarch
• 1240s: Georgia was conquered by the Mongol hordes
• 1795: Incorporated into the Russian empire
• 1921: Became a part of the Soviet Union
• 1991: Independence and financial collapse
• 1991-1993: Civil war, armed ethnic conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia
• 2003: The Rose Revolution and democratic reforms
• 2008: War between Georgia and Russia
• 2012: The first peaceful shift of power
• 2016: The International Criminal Court (ICC) opens investigation
• 2021: Former President Saakashvili arrested
• 2023: EU candidate status was granted to Georgia
• 2024: Foreign Agent law adopted