Bidzina’s first arrests

The developments in Georgia after the shift of power are starting to resemble Ukraine in 2010, when Viktor Yanukovych came to office. The victory of the Georgian Dream became the beginning of persecuting the opposition. One instance can be seen in the detention of the former Interior and Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia, the Army Chief-of-Staff General Georgii Kalandadze, and Brigade Commander Zurab Shamatava on the charges of abuse of power, namely, assaulting and insulting servicemen.

The regime has also launched a pressure attack against the incumbent president, leader of the defeated party, the United National Movement, Mikheil Saakashvili, whose term of office expires in 2013. In particular, the Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili suggested that Saakashvili move out of the presidential palace and settle in the building of the government’s office.

Meanwhile, the new government is axing the expenditure on the National Security Council under the president, which used to be a very powerful structure in Georgia. The opposition has already denounced this and other similar cuts as an attempt at “usurping the power,” refusing to vote for such a budget.

Ivanishvili’s rise to power has also impaired the freedom of speech in the country. In October, the government’s First Information Caucasian Channel (PIK) was closed down, allegedly due to a lack of financing. The government promised to look into the situation, but the broadcasting has not resumed so far.

The Day asked Misha TAVKHELIDZE, a TV journalist, and Lasha TUGUSHI, editor-in-chief, newspaper Rezonansi, to comment on the persecutions of Georgia’s opposition and their statements concerning the curtailing of free speech.

Misha TAVKHELIDZE: “In my view, the chief reason for Akhalaia’s detention is his being the key figure in crushing down the thieves in law [leaders of the criminal underworld. – Ed.]. Big mafia bosses must have had a grudge. There is also another thing. The Georgian Dream has a complete lack of anything that might pass for a positive political platform. In the run-up to the election they showered the voters with promises, but apparently they were not prepared for the victory.

“As far as arrests and a possible start of a crushdown on the opposition go, the situation is not really hopeless, even given Ivanishvili’s totalitarian style. Georgia is still a democracy which aspires to join NATO. There are two possible scenarios: either the democracy will survive, or we will follow in Ukraine’s footsteps (if you will forgive me the allusion), with all the consequences such as the revival of corruption, flirting with Russia, and so on, and so forth.”

Lasha TUGUSHI: “I do not think that axing the president and Security Council’s expenditure, or the detention of the former minister and generals, are Ivanishvili’s political revanche. This is a time of shifting the priorities. The current budget allocates more funds for welfare and health care. I do not think this gives enough grounds for qualifying these steps as a revanche of sorts. These payments were mentioned in their platform, and people voted for this. But even before that, many journalists and human rights advocates had a lot of questions concerning Akhalaia’s practices and human rights violations. Nevertheless, sound evidence of his guilt is necessary.

“As for revanche, I hope it will never happen. They keep repeating that they will not follow that path, that no one needs it. If we choose the path of revanche, we are going to have problems with democracy.”

Don’t the events in Georgia resemble what was happening in Ukraine in 2010, when the Party of Regions came to power?

M.T.: “Exactly. I call Ivanishvili ‘Bidzina Amvrosievich Yanukovych’ [‘Amvrosievich’ is the patronymic of independent Georgia’s second president Shevardnadze. – Ed.], because virtually all his team is made up by former officials and crooks from Shevardnadze’s time, and he himself behaves like Yanukovych. He is taking him off down to the smallest detail, including personal revenge on those whom he hates privately, not as politicians. For instance, the president, or Giga Bokeria, or Bacho Akhalaia.

“The new draft budget has a section carrying 740 million lari. This means that roughly 10 percent of the budget is tailored to suit the government’s new initiatives. In fact, Ivanishvili has assigned himself almost a million lari for the things which he still has to come up with. The people who voted for Bidzina Ivanishvili are waiting for money. That is why the government needs to distract popular attention from the problems.

“Ivanishvili is notorious for his rancor. He is unscrupulous about the means, when it comes to achieving his ends. His personality was shaped in the rough 1990s in the criminal underworld of Russia, and now he is going to behave as if he still were there. Not without a reason, he was nicknamed Constrictor, and he was known to be most indiscriminate in his methods, cooperating both with UBOP [Russia’s anti-criminal police force. – Ed.] and gangsters.

“Together with Bacho Akhalaia, they also detained the Army’s chief-of-staff. Remarkably, he was summoned to the Defense Minister’s office at three in the morning and arrested there. He had been appointed by Saakashvili. Ivanishvili, who had not been able to appoint his own creature, simply ‘ordered’ the man, like he did in the 1990s, and got him in jail.”

L.T.: “In my view, what was happening in Ukraine was very different from what is going on here and now. I hope that we will follow the path of consolidating democratic processes. The process is not easy, but I believe that it will lead to improving democracy.

“I hope that Georgia’s current policy of integration into both European structures and NATO will continue.”

What is the situation like now with mass media and the PIK Channel?

M.T.: “Ivanishvili is trying to subjugate and control the nation’s major media, including the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), which is not directly subjected to the government. At present, around 60 fiscal police officers have occupied the GPB office. Instead of doing their job of routine inspection, they simply stop people from working. Moreover, as far as I know, through some mediators Ivanishvili demanded loyalty of the Public Broadcaster’s management (GPB also owns a couple of radio stations and three television channels, including the PIK Channel), which was rejected. Consequently, he has resorted to retaliation. I expect that he is going to try the same tactics on privately owned channels. However, instead of the fiscal police, with these channels he will use blackmailing, pressure, and threats to jail the owners.”

L.T.: “The government has just taken over. I do not think that they are trying to curtail the freedom of the media. As far as the PIK Channel goes, this is a problem concerning the channel’s management.”