Transparency International обвиняет власти Грузии в использовании административного ресурса
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В последние дни в грузинских СМИ появились многочисленные сообщения о давлении властей на сотрудников госучреждений для привлечения их, под угрозой увольнения, к участию в предвыборной компании на стороне правящей партии.
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http://www.apsny.ge/2012/pol/1342028462.php
Минкультуры Грузии отрицает участие своих сотрудников в предвыборной агитации
11.07.2012
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Министерство культуры и охраны памятников Грузии отрицает распространенную 5 июля рядом наблюдательских организаций информацию о якобы использовании высокопоставленными чиновниками министерства своего служебного положения в предвыборных целях, и обещает наказать виновных в случае подтверждения подобных фактов.
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Речь идет о том, что была распространена информация, что якобы высокопоставленные чиновники министерства культуры обязывали своих сотрудников поддержать правящую партию и составить список сторонников, а в случае неповиновения грозили уволить их с работы.
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"Министерство культуры и охраны памятников Грузии категорически отрицает осуществление со стороны высокопоставленных чиновников министерства подобных действий. Министерство не принимало и не примет в будущем решения о том, чтобы наложить на сотрудников предвыборные обязательства и включить их в избирательную кампанию", - говорится в заявлении министерства.
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При этом министерство указывает, что в упомянутых заявлениях ряда организаций, не указаны конкретные факты и имена, что дало бы возможность перепроверить инфомацию на наличие нарушений в министерстве.
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"В случае, если любой сотрудник министерства, несмотря на его должность, по личной инциативе выполнил или выполнит действие, содержащее опасность для справедливой и свободной избирательной среды и это будет подтверждено соответствующими доказательствами, министерство незамедлительно отреагирует на этот факт в рамках закона", - отмечается в заявлении.
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В опровержении министерства речь идет только об информации от 5 июля, однако в последние дни сообщения правозащитников подтвердила и Transparency International, в докладе которой приведены многочисленные случаи нарушений, допущенных властями Грузии, и не только министерством культуры - "alarming trend of misuse of administrative resources and public office during the pre-election period".
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http://transparency.ge/en/blog/party-assignments-public-officials
Party assignments to public officials
Transparency International Georgia
09 July 2012
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According to information provided by a number of employees of certain government bodies (Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, Ministry of Finance), superior officials have given employees the task of making a list of supporters of the ruling party. They are threatened with being fired if they refuse to perform this job. Recently, similar information on this subject has become widespread in mass media reports. TI Georgia believes that this might illustrate the tendency of the government to misuse administrative resources during the pre-election period, threatening to unbalance the pre-election environment.
A Ministry of Finance employee stated that a relevant Ministry’s department a meeting was held during which he was instructed by his immediate superior to make a list of five United National Movement supporters. He was also threatened with problems for his subordinates if this task was not fulfilled. According to this person, similar meetings have taken place in other departments and units of the Ministry. This information is has been corroborated by another source. After creating a list of supporters and taking it to the Ministry, the public officials are summoned by the United National Movement. They are also informed by the United National Movement representatives that people from the list would be contacted and asked whether they really are supporters of the ruling party.
We consider that this practice violates legislation in force:
• Giving political tasks to public officials is a violation of Article 61 of the Georgian Law on Public Service, according to which, ‘A public official is not allowed to make use of his official position for political purposes.’ Accordingly, with respect to violators, disciplinary actions provided by Article 79 of the same statute are to be taken. In addition, signs of criminal offences may also be demonstrated by the behavior of superior officials. In particular, according to Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, misuse of powers by a public official, i.e. getting undue advantage for himself or for others is punishable by law. In this case, public officials have not only asked their subordinates to support a specific political party, but also collected their personal data, which is done as part of their official authority and is against the will of their subordinates and in violation of the provisions of the Law on Public Service.
• In addition, paragraph 1 of Article 49 of the Election Code of Georgia prohibits making use of the official position by public servants for election purposes. It is true that this provision comes into force only from the day of appointment of the election, but political parties have already started their pre-election campaigns, and therefore this practice should be considered a misuse of administrative resources for election purposes.
• In addition, according to the OSCE Copenhagen Document, the Government is obliged to make a clear distinction between the State and political parties.
Apart from the cases mentioned above, similar patterns are repeatedly being reported by the mass media. Information received during April-June 2012 contains the following data.
• According to information spread on April 3, 2012, coordinators of territorial municipal units throughout Kakheti were given orders to make special lists where members of vulnerable families were listed as being suspected as supporters of the opposition. Also, throughout the region, school principals and kindergarten directors were given the task of providing information on which political party their employees’ family members support. (source)
• According to information spread on 4 April 2012, village trustees, public servants and employees of non-commercial and non-entrepreneurial legal entities (NNLA) in Guria region created a database of the supporters and opponents of the ruling party. This included personal data on family members and their political sympathies. This fact is corroborated by an employee of the regional Service of Emergency Situations, but he could not clarify for what purpose these databases were created. (source)
• According to information dispersed on 7 May 2012, in Chokhatauri Municipality, teachers of a local kindergarten asked the parents of the children studying there to provide them with information on family members, namely on their quantity, name, surname, age, etc. According to clarification given by the Head of the Union of Local Kindergartens, Nino Baramidze, this information was needed for a demographic statistic, and the data had been collected for a long time. However, according to employees of Chokhatauri and Lanchkhuti kindergartens, such data never had been collected before. (source)
• According to information released on May 7, 2012, in NNLAs in Ozurgeti Municipality, closed meetings were held, and employees were asked to find at least ten people who would be ready to support the ruling party in the upcoming parliamentary election. They were warned that they would be fired if they fail to do so. (source)
• According to information spread on 10 May 2012, in Ozurgeti Municipality, the Chairman of the local representative body (Sakrebulo), Aleko Mameshvili had a closed meeting in the building of the Municipality with employees of budget organizations, village trustees, public school principals, kindergarten directors, local inhabitants employed in public sector and local political activists. During the meeting he promised them help and financial support in exchange for ten supporters of the ruling party. (source)
• According to information spread on 27 June 2012, lists of supporters of the United National Movement were creating by public servants across Guria. Respective instructions were given by the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Ramaz Nikolaishvili to the Guria region governor who, in turn, passed them to the heads of the local representative and executive bodies. (source)
• According to the information spread on 4 July 2012, in Kutaisi, chairpersons of local apartment partnerships are collecting information about inhabitants: their ID numbers, birth dates, places of work and political affiliations. Such instructions were given to them by territorial units of Kutaisi’s Office of Mayor. Issues related to this kind of census are discussed with employees of the Municipality who receive their instructions from the United National Movement. (source)
• According to information spread on 24 May 2012, in Ozurgeti, the Deputy Head of the Local Executive body (Gamgeoba) instructed his employees to make a list of the United National Movement supporters (you can find the full version of the covert audio recording here). TI Georgia has repeatedly appealed to the interdepartmental commission of the National Security Council on this matter but no reaction has followed so far. (source)
We believe that such activities may indicate that there is a generally alarming tendency to misuse administrative resources during the pre-election period, challenging the very existence of a fair and competitive pre-election environment. Accordingly, we refer:
• To the Interdepartmental Commission of the National Security Council on Free and Fair Elections to investigate the abovementioned facts and react appropriately.
• To the Office of the Procurator-General to investigate whether there are signs of a violation of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, in particular the misuse of official authority.
• To the Government of Georgia to ensure that political parties’, society and state interests are protected, not to allow repetition of similar actions in the future and to take appropriate measures to ensure fair and competitive pre-election environment.
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http://transparency.ge/en/blog/new-party-assignments-gurjaani
New Party Assignments in Gurjaani
Transparency International Georgia
11 July 2012
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According to our information, the Governor of the Kakheti region has given instructions to members of the Gurjaani Sakrebulo and village trustees to mobilize prominent and authoritative people who are by birth from Gurjaani. They have been directed, during the pre-election period, to ask these important members of the community to invite at least ten people to support the United National Movement. In exchange for this help, paid vacations have been promised to the trustees. TI Georgia believes that this is another corroboration of the alarming trend of misuse of administrative resources and public office during the pre-election period. We have reported on this in our previous blog.
Our source visited his home village in the end of June and has since provided us with information on this subject. A trustee of this village came to him and said that they were going to mobilize those people who had been born in this village, had been working in prestigious public offices and, as a result of this, have enjoyed significant influence among the locals. These people are required to be in the village for some days before the parliamentary elections. While there, they have been asked to find at least ten others who would be ready to vote for the United National Movement, continued the trustee. In exchange for providing this service, the trustee guaranteed that these recruiters would be given one-week paid vacations. He also stated that the same instructions had been given to the village trustees of the whole Municipality by the Kakheti Governor, Giorgi Gviniashvili and Vice-Governor, Gogita Sibashvili.
We consider that this practice violates legislation in force:
• The people who gave the respective instructions (the Governor and the Vice-Governor) committed a violation of Article 61 of the Georgian Law on Public Service, according to which, “A public official is not allowed to make use of his official position for political purposes.” Accordingly, with respect to violators, disciplinary actions provided by Article 79 of the same statute are to be taken. In addition, it is possible that signs of criminal offences may also be demonstrated by the behavior of superior officials. In particular, according to Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, misuse of powers by a public official, i.e. receiving an undue advantage for himself or for others is punishable by law. In this case, public officials have used their official powers to give illicit orders to other public officials against their wills by which they exceed their authority as circumscribed by the provisions of the Law on Public Service. In addition, by his actions the Governor has instigated other public officials to commit the same offence - abuse of official powers.
• In addition, paragraph 1 of Article 49 of the Election Code of Georgia prohibits making use of an official position by public servants for election purposes. The promise of one-week paid leave represents unreasonable spending of state financial resources for political purpose, also against the law. According to Article 26 of the Law of Georgia on Political Unions this is unlawful donation in favor of one political party over another.
• In addition, according to the OSCE Copenhagen Document, the Government is obliged to make a clear distinction between the State and political parties.
Accordingly, we refer:
• To the Inter-Agency Commission of the National Security Council on Free and Fair Elections to investigate the abovementioned facts and react appropriately.
• To the Office of the Prosecutor-General to investigate whether there are signs of a violation of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, in particular the misuse of official authority.
• To the Government of Georgia to ensure that political party, society and state interests are protected, not to allow repetition of similar actions in the future and to take appropriate measures to ensure a fair and competitive pre-election environment.
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Об оказываемом на них давлении со стороны властей заявили и спортсмены Грузии. Прекратить давление на спортсменов, обеспечить им свободу политического волеизъявления и не привлекать их к созданию групп давления на население - таковы основные требования 120 действующих и бывших грузинских спортсменов.
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http://www.ekhokavkaza.com/content/article/24642346.html
Спортсмены обвиняют власти
Темур Кигурадзе
"Эхо Кавказа" ("Радио Свобода")
11.07.2012
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Грузинские спортсмены, объединенные в оппозиционном движении «Грузинская мечта», обращаются к международным организациям за помощью. Они считают, что спорт в Грузии стал политизированным. Спортсмены открыто говорят о фактах давления со стороны властей. Им отвечает грузинское Министерство спорта.
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Прекратить давление на спортсменов, обеспечить им свободу политического волеизъявления и не привлекать их к созданию групп давления на население - таковы основные требования 120 действующих и бывших грузинских спортсменов. Сегодня на пресс-конференции их зачитал глава спортивного отдела оппозиционного движения «Грузинская мечта» Леван Кипиани.
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Кипиани открыто заявил, что власти заставляют спортсменов участвовать в деятельности групп, специально созданных для физической расправы с инакомыслящими. И это далеко не весь список претензий оппозиционеров.
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«Спортсменов используют для запугивания и расправы с населением. Отряды хорошо натренированных спортсменов угрожают людям, которые критически оценивают деятельность властей, угрожают не только им, но и их семьям. Это все может привести к гражданскому противостоянию», - говорит Кипиани.
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Это послание будет направлено иностранным дипломатам, аккредитованным в Грузии, международным организациям, включая ООН и Евросоюз, а также Международному олимпийскому комитету.
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Кроме того, подвергаются давлению со стороны властей и сами действующие спортсмены и ветераны, которые отличаются оппозиционными взглядами на происходящее в стране: их отстраняют от занимаемых должностей, им урезают зарплату, лишают средств к существованию. Это подтверждает и другой член инициативной группы, бывший тренер сборной Грузии по дзю-до Шота Хабарели:
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«Вот вам пример - мое дело. Мой бизнес был арестован после того, как я заявил о своей политической позиции. Возьмите дело Каладзе, дело Звиадаури - то же самое. А тех, у кого нечего отнять, увольняют с должностей».
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Спорт должен быть свободным от политики, считает многократная чемпионка мира по шахматам Нона Гаприндашвили. Ее подпись тоже можно найти под обращением к международным организациям:
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«Я не хочу быть врагом в глазах властей, ведь для страны я не сделала ничего, кроме хорошего. Спорт не должен служить какому-нибудь правителю, он должен служить своей стране».
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В последние дни в грузинских СМИ появились многочисленные сообщения о давлении властей на сотрудников госучреждений для привлечения их, под угрозой увольнения, к участию в предвыборной компании на стороне правящей партии.
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http://www.apsny.ge/2012/pol/1342028462.php
Минкультуры Грузии отрицает участие своих сотрудников в предвыборной агитации
11.07.2012
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Министерство культуры и охраны памятников Грузии отрицает распространенную 5 июля рядом наблюдательских организаций информацию о якобы использовании высокопоставленными чиновниками министерства своего служебного положения в предвыборных целях, и обещает наказать виновных в случае подтверждения подобных фактов.
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Речь идет о том, что была распространена информация, что якобы высокопоставленные чиновники министерства культуры обязывали своих сотрудников поддержать правящую партию и составить список сторонников, а в случае неповиновения грозили уволить их с работы.
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"Министерство культуры и охраны памятников Грузии категорически отрицает осуществление со стороны высокопоставленных чиновников министерства подобных действий. Министерство не принимало и не примет в будущем решения о том, чтобы наложить на сотрудников предвыборные обязательства и включить их в избирательную кампанию", - говорится в заявлении министерства.
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При этом министерство указывает, что в упомянутых заявлениях ряда организаций, не указаны конкретные факты и имена, что дало бы возможность перепроверить инфомацию на наличие нарушений в министерстве.
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"В случае, если любой сотрудник министерства, несмотря на его должность, по личной инциативе выполнил или выполнит действие, содержащее опасность для справедливой и свободной избирательной среды и это будет подтверждено соответствующими доказательствами, министерство незамедлительно отреагирует на этот факт в рамках закона", - отмечается в заявлении.
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В опровержении министерства речь идет только об информации от 5 июля, однако в последние дни сообщения правозащитников подтвердила и Transparency International, в докладе которой приведены многочисленные случаи нарушений, допущенных властями Грузии, и не только министерством культуры - "alarming trend of misuse of administrative resources and public office during the pre-election period".
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http://transparency.ge/en/blog/party-assignments-public-officials
Party assignments to public officials
Transparency International Georgia
09 July 2012
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According to information provided by a number of employees of certain government bodies (Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, Ministry of Finance), superior officials have given employees the task of making a list of supporters of the ruling party. They are threatened with being fired if they refuse to perform this job. Recently, similar information on this subject has become widespread in mass media reports. TI Georgia believes that this might illustrate the tendency of the government to misuse administrative resources during the pre-election period, threatening to unbalance the pre-election environment.
A Ministry of Finance employee stated that a relevant Ministry’s department a meeting was held during which he was instructed by his immediate superior to make a list of five United National Movement supporters. He was also threatened with problems for his subordinates if this task was not fulfilled. According to this person, similar meetings have taken place in other departments and units of the Ministry. This information is has been corroborated by another source. After creating a list of supporters and taking it to the Ministry, the public officials are summoned by the United National Movement. They are also informed by the United National Movement representatives that people from the list would be contacted and asked whether they really are supporters of the ruling party.
We consider that this practice violates legislation in force:
• Giving political tasks to public officials is a violation of Article 61 of the Georgian Law on Public Service, according to which, ‘A public official is not allowed to make use of his official position for political purposes.’ Accordingly, with respect to violators, disciplinary actions provided by Article 79 of the same statute are to be taken. In addition, signs of criminal offences may also be demonstrated by the behavior of superior officials. In particular, according to Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, misuse of powers by a public official, i.e. getting undue advantage for himself or for others is punishable by law. In this case, public officials have not only asked their subordinates to support a specific political party, but also collected their personal data, which is done as part of their official authority and is against the will of their subordinates and in violation of the provisions of the Law on Public Service.
• In addition, paragraph 1 of Article 49 of the Election Code of Georgia prohibits making use of the official position by public servants for election purposes. It is true that this provision comes into force only from the day of appointment of the election, but political parties have already started their pre-election campaigns, and therefore this practice should be considered a misuse of administrative resources for election purposes.
• In addition, according to the OSCE Copenhagen Document, the Government is obliged to make a clear distinction between the State and political parties.
Apart from the cases mentioned above, similar patterns are repeatedly being reported by the mass media. Information received during April-June 2012 contains the following data.
• According to information spread on April 3, 2012, coordinators of territorial municipal units throughout Kakheti were given orders to make special lists where members of vulnerable families were listed as being suspected as supporters of the opposition. Also, throughout the region, school principals and kindergarten directors were given the task of providing information on which political party their employees’ family members support. (source)
• According to information spread on 4 April 2012, village trustees, public servants and employees of non-commercial and non-entrepreneurial legal entities (NNLA) in Guria region created a database of the supporters and opponents of the ruling party. This included personal data on family members and their political sympathies. This fact is corroborated by an employee of the regional Service of Emergency Situations, but he could not clarify for what purpose these databases were created. (source)
• According to information dispersed on 7 May 2012, in Chokhatauri Municipality, teachers of a local kindergarten asked the parents of the children studying there to provide them with information on family members, namely on their quantity, name, surname, age, etc. According to clarification given by the Head of the Union of Local Kindergartens, Nino Baramidze, this information was needed for a demographic statistic, and the data had been collected for a long time. However, according to employees of Chokhatauri and Lanchkhuti kindergartens, such data never had been collected before. (source)
• According to information released on May 7, 2012, in NNLAs in Ozurgeti Municipality, closed meetings were held, and employees were asked to find at least ten people who would be ready to support the ruling party in the upcoming parliamentary election. They were warned that they would be fired if they fail to do so. (source)
• According to information spread on 10 May 2012, in Ozurgeti Municipality, the Chairman of the local representative body (Sakrebulo), Aleko Mameshvili had a closed meeting in the building of the Municipality with employees of budget organizations, village trustees, public school principals, kindergarten directors, local inhabitants employed in public sector and local political activists. During the meeting he promised them help and financial support in exchange for ten supporters of the ruling party. (source)
• According to information spread on 27 June 2012, lists of supporters of the United National Movement were creating by public servants across Guria. Respective instructions were given by the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Ramaz Nikolaishvili to the Guria region governor who, in turn, passed them to the heads of the local representative and executive bodies. (source)
• According to the information spread on 4 July 2012, in Kutaisi, chairpersons of local apartment partnerships are collecting information about inhabitants: their ID numbers, birth dates, places of work and political affiliations. Such instructions were given to them by territorial units of Kutaisi’s Office of Mayor. Issues related to this kind of census are discussed with employees of the Municipality who receive their instructions from the United National Movement. (source)
• According to information spread on 24 May 2012, in Ozurgeti, the Deputy Head of the Local Executive body (Gamgeoba) instructed his employees to make a list of the United National Movement supporters (you can find the full version of the covert audio recording here). TI Georgia has repeatedly appealed to the interdepartmental commission of the National Security Council on this matter but no reaction has followed so far. (source)
We believe that such activities may indicate that there is a generally alarming tendency to misuse administrative resources during the pre-election period, challenging the very existence of a fair and competitive pre-election environment. Accordingly, we refer:
• To the Interdepartmental Commission of the National Security Council on Free and Fair Elections to investigate the abovementioned facts and react appropriately.
• To the Office of the Procurator-General to investigate whether there are signs of a violation of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, in particular the misuse of official authority.
• To the Government of Georgia to ensure that political parties’, society and state interests are protected, not to allow repetition of similar actions in the future and to take appropriate measures to ensure fair and competitive pre-election environment.
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http://transparency.ge/en/blog/new-party-assignments-gurjaani
New Party Assignments in Gurjaani
Transparency International Georgia
11 July 2012
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According to our information, the Governor of the Kakheti region has given instructions to members of the Gurjaani Sakrebulo and village trustees to mobilize prominent and authoritative people who are by birth from Gurjaani. They have been directed, during the pre-election period, to ask these important members of the community to invite at least ten people to support the United National Movement. In exchange for this help, paid vacations have been promised to the trustees. TI Georgia believes that this is another corroboration of the alarming trend of misuse of administrative resources and public office during the pre-election period. We have reported on this in our previous blog.
Our source visited his home village in the end of June and has since provided us with information on this subject. A trustee of this village came to him and said that they were going to mobilize those people who had been born in this village, had been working in prestigious public offices and, as a result of this, have enjoyed significant influence among the locals. These people are required to be in the village for some days before the parliamentary elections. While there, they have been asked to find at least ten others who would be ready to vote for the United National Movement, continued the trustee. In exchange for providing this service, the trustee guaranteed that these recruiters would be given one-week paid vacations. He also stated that the same instructions had been given to the village trustees of the whole Municipality by the Kakheti Governor, Giorgi Gviniashvili and Vice-Governor, Gogita Sibashvili.
We consider that this practice violates legislation in force:
• The people who gave the respective instructions (the Governor and the Vice-Governor) committed a violation of Article 61 of the Georgian Law on Public Service, according to which, “A public official is not allowed to make use of his official position for political purposes.” Accordingly, with respect to violators, disciplinary actions provided by Article 79 of the same statute are to be taken. In addition, it is possible that signs of criminal offences may also be demonstrated by the behavior of superior officials. In particular, according to Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, misuse of powers by a public official, i.e. receiving an undue advantage for himself or for others is punishable by law. In this case, public officials have used their official powers to give illicit orders to other public officials against their wills by which they exceed their authority as circumscribed by the provisions of the Law on Public Service. In addition, by his actions the Governor has instigated other public officials to commit the same offence - abuse of official powers.
• In addition, paragraph 1 of Article 49 of the Election Code of Georgia prohibits making use of an official position by public servants for election purposes. The promise of one-week paid leave represents unreasonable spending of state financial resources for political purpose, also against the law. According to Article 26 of the Law of Georgia on Political Unions this is unlawful donation in favor of one political party over another.
• In addition, according to the OSCE Copenhagen Document, the Government is obliged to make a clear distinction between the State and political parties.
Accordingly, we refer:
• To the Inter-Agency Commission of the National Security Council on Free and Fair Elections to investigate the abovementioned facts and react appropriately.
• To the Office of the Prosecutor-General to investigate whether there are signs of a violation of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, in particular the misuse of official authority.
• To the Government of Georgia to ensure that political party, society and state interests are protected, not to allow repetition of similar actions in the future and to take appropriate measures to ensure a fair and competitive pre-election environment.
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Об оказываемом на них давлении со стороны властей заявили и спортсмены Грузии. Прекратить давление на спортсменов, обеспечить им свободу политического волеизъявления и не привлекать их к созданию групп давления на население - таковы основные требования 120 действующих и бывших грузинских спортсменов.
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http://www.ekhokavkaza.com/content/article/24642346.html
Спортсмены обвиняют власти
Темур Кигурадзе
"Эхо Кавказа" ("Радио Свобода")
11.07.2012
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Грузинские спортсмены, объединенные в оппозиционном движении «Грузинская мечта», обращаются к международным организациям за помощью. Они считают, что спорт в Грузии стал политизированным. Спортсмены открыто говорят о фактах давления со стороны властей. Им отвечает грузинское Министерство спорта.
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Прекратить давление на спортсменов, обеспечить им свободу политического волеизъявления и не привлекать их к созданию групп давления на население - таковы основные требования 120 действующих и бывших грузинских спортсменов. Сегодня на пресс-конференции их зачитал глава спортивного отдела оппозиционного движения «Грузинская мечта» Леван Кипиани.
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Кипиани открыто заявил, что власти заставляют спортсменов участвовать в деятельности групп, специально созданных для физической расправы с инакомыслящими. И это далеко не весь список претензий оппозиционеров.
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«Спортсменов используют для запугивания и расправы с населением. Отряды хорошо натренированных спортсменов угрожают людям, которые критически оценивают деятельность властей, угрожают не только им, но и их семьям. Это все может привести к гражданскому противостоянию», - говорит Кипиани.
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Это послание будет направлено иностранным дипломатам, аккредитованным в Грузии, международным организациям, включая ООН и Евросоюз, а также Международному олимпийскому комитету.
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Кроме того, подвергаются давлению со стороны властей и сами действующие спортсмены и ветераны, которые отличаются оппозиционными взглядами на происходящее в стране: их отстраняют от занимаемых должностей, им урезают зарплату, лишают средств к существованию. Это подтверждает и другой член инициативной группы, бывший тренер сборной Грузии по дзю-до Шота Хабарели:
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«Вот вам пример - мое дело. Мой бизнес был арестован после того, как я заявил о своей политической позиции. Возьмите дело Каладзе, дело Звиадаури - то же самое. А тех, у кого нечего отнять, увольняют с должностей».
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Спорт должен быть свободным от политики, считает многократная чемпионка мира по шахматам Нона Гаприндашвили. Ее подпись тоже можно найти под обращением к международным организациям:
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«Я не хочу быть врагом в глазах властей, ведь для страны я не сделала ничего, кроме хорошего. Спорт не должен служить какому-нибудь правителю, он должен служить своей стране».
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