GEORGIA’S SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY
By Inga Alavidze in Tbilisi
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
Nov 30 2006
Fears grow as secret surveillance material is increasingly aired
in public.
Following the local elections in Georgia in October, the Rustavi-2
television station broadcast a compromising video of opposition Koba
Davitashvili, leader of the opposition Conservative Party.
The video, which had been shot in a restaurant in Tbilisi, apparently
showed Davitashvili promising his interlocutor a place on his party’s
election list in exchange for 20,000 US dollars.
Soon afterwards, a scandal broke out when a secret video recording
exposed corruption in the United State Fund for Social Insurance,
as a result of which top officials found themselves behind bars.
In another expose, a secret video camera installed in parliament
deputy Gia Nutsubidze’s room showed footage of him seemingly handing
over bribe to a senior education ministry official.
In the summer, an allegedly secret audio recording of a phone
conversation between fugitive paramilitary leader Emzar Kvitsiani
and opposition politician Irakly Batiashvili was the pretext for
arresting Batiashvili on charges of high treason.
These are just four instances in a long list of cases in which the
secrets of prominent people have been exposed with the help of secret
recordings, broadcast to the public.
According to the Georgian constitution, "everyone’s private life,
place of personal activity, personal records, correspondence,
communication by phone or by other technical means, as well as messages
received through technical means are inviolable. Restriction of the
aforementioned rights is permissible by a court decision or also
without such a decision in the case of urgent necessity provided for
by law".
The second part of this apparently gives license to the law enforcement
agencies to use surveillance as a weapon.
Elene Tevdoradze, a member of parliament with the ruling party and
chairwoman of the Parliament Human Rights Committee, said she thought
surveillance was justified.
"As a human rights activist, I categorically oppose the interference
in people’s personal lives," she said. "However, given the current
situation in this country, we have to tolerate a lot of things if
we want to be protected against the threats to our country. I would
like to remind you that secret recordings have been legalised in the
United States and the United Kingdom to combat terrorism effectively."
However, Tevdoradze herself admitted that she feels psychologically
uncomfortable when she talks on the phone, as someone may be tapping
her too. And lawyers and human rights activists are concerned about
both the extent and the legality of the surveillance tactics being
used."
Lawyer Malkhaz Jangirashvili said that almost all the evidence in
the criminal cases that he is currently dealing with comes from
secret recordings.
"Ninety per cent of my cases and the cases of my colleagues are
deliberately provoked, by which I mean that a tapping device is
installed and a conversation is provoked," he told IWPR. "Even neutral
conversations that have nothing to do with a crime can be regarded as
evidence. On the whole all the cases that get solved are underpinned
by this method."
Jangirashvili said that tapes are also forged and, "due to the lack of
technical means and qualified specialists, no high-quality examination
of recordings is provided".
He argues that secret tapping is widely used because of a lack of
professionalism.
"The investigation and operational service are unable to collect any
other kind of proof, as this is quite a labour-intensive process and
needs a certain level of professionalism," he said. "This is why they
take the easy path of secret recordings, as otherwise they would be
unable to solve cases."
Legal experts are also concerned about the way the secret recordings
are made public via the media. The law enforcement agencies frequently
use them as part of their publicity campaigns, with the media seemingly
having no objection to broadcasting the material.
"The media are basically working for the law enforcement agencies,"
said Republican Party leader and lawyer Tinatin Khidasheli.
"Journalists have normal channels of information closed to them but
the media allows itself to be used by the security agencies.
"For example, by making public the absolutely illegal recording
involving Koba Davitashvili, the media promoted ethnic enmity – in
the recording, Davitashvili [allegedly] used the word ‘Armenian’
in an insulting manner. This is a classic example of the lack of
professionalism. The media would have been held responsible for this
in any civilised country."
Khidasheli cited examples of hidden cameras and phone tapping also
being used in internal political battles. For example, prisons boss
Bacho Akhalaia who has a difficult relationship with the human rights
ombudsman Sozar Subari, made public a recording of an apparent phone
conversation between a representative of the ombudsman and a former
prisoner who allegedly spoke about giving a bribe to a prison guard.
Opposition parliamentary deputy Kakha Kukava says he is not against
secret recordings if they are obtained legally. "But everything that
we see on television is recorded illegally, and it is even edited in
some cases," he said.
Kukava said his main worry was that it was instilling a "fear syndrome"
amongst the public. "Many citizens who come to me as a deputy for
help are afraid to speak about their problems on the telephone,"
he told IWPR.
Eight out of ten ordinary Georgians IWPR spoke to said that they
prefer not to discuss serious issues on the phone.
"I never speak about politics on the telephone, as a serious friend
of mine warned me that all telephones are being tapped," said Maia,
a 47-year-old dentist.
"I don’t even know what’s worse – not to be able to expose one more
corrupt official or to have a constant feeling that a video eye or
a listening device is somewhere close to you," said Giga, 34.
Human rights activists and lawyers say they are also concerned
about the practice of surveillance of prisons, in violation of the
confidentiality of meetings between lawyers and prisoners. Subari
has appealed to the prison department to take down video cameras from
jail meeting rooms on the grounds that this violates Georgian law. So
far, he has met with a refusal on the grounds that the practice is
permissible under UN basic principles on the treatment of prisoners.
Georgia’s Young Lawyers’ Association has also appealed to the country’s
constitutional court to protest that the kind of surveillance
which is currently practiced by the law enforcement agencies is
unconstitutional.
The court accepted the application and has said it will answer within
six months.
Inga Alavidze works for the crime section of the 24 Hours newspaper
in Tbilisi