The News in Brief
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Prepared by Messenger Staff
Former Ombudsman responds to Zourabichvili's statement regarding NGOs
Former Public Defender Nino Lomjaria responded to President Salome Zourabichvili's statement that NGOs should make statements against the president being 'bullied'.
According to Lomjaria "calls by government officials that human rights defenders should protect officials during political attacks are becoming a wrong practice."
"As a former public defender, I would like to make one clarification - the function of human rights defenders is not to protect persons in power from citizens or political opponents, no matter how intense the opposition, pressure or political attack. Of course, when the pressure takes illegal forms, it's a different matter, however, calls from government officials that human rights defenders should protect officials during political attacks are becoming a very wrong practice.
Protection of rights means protection of those who are not in power, i.e. the weak, from those in power. In the case of the President of Georgia, she has so much power, so many constitutional levers (be it the appointment of a decisive member of the Council of Justice, pardon, constitutional proceedings, appeal to the Venice Commission, right of veto, etc.) that he can freely put pressure on the members of the ruling party.
This post is not only about the president, during the public defense I was also often asked to protect ministers or members of the ruling party, which is a wrong understanding of human rights protection and manipulation of this concept. I think that we should not support this wrong definition," wrote Lomjaria.
15 EU reps meet Minister of Justice regarding Mikheil Saakashvili case
Representatives of 15 EU member states and the USA held a meeting with the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Rati Bregadze.
As the German ambassador to Georgia said after the meeting, a meeting with Rati Bregadze was held in the Ministry of Justice regarding the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
"We were here with representatives of 15 EU member states and the USA. We met with the Minister of Justice regarding the case of Mikheil Saakashvili. We discussed current procedures and health issues. I can't go into the details," Peter Fischer, the German ambassador to Georgia, told Formula TV.
Former Ombudsman responds to Zourabichvili's statement regarding NGOs
According to Lomjaria "calls by government officials that human rights defenders should protect officials during political attacks are becoming a wrong practice."
"As a former public defender, I would like to make one clarification - the function of human rights defenders is not to protect persons in power from citizens or political opponents, no matter how intense the opposition, pressure or political attack. Of course, when the pressure takes illegal forms, it's a different matter, however, calls from government officials that human rights defenders should protect officials during political attacks are becoming a very wrong practice.
Protection of rights means protection of those who are not in power, i.e. the weak, from those in power. In the case of the President of Georgia, she has so much power, so many constitutional levers (be it the appointment of a decisive member of the Council of Justice, pardon, constitutional proceedings, appeal to the Venice Commission, right of veto, etc.) that he can freely put pressure on the members of the ruling party.
This post is not only about the president, during the public defense I was also often asked to protect ministers or members of the ruling party, which is a wrong understanding of human rights protection and manipulation of this concept. I think that we should not support this wrong definition," wrote Lomjaria.
15 EU reps meet Minister of Justice regarding Mikheil Saakashvili case
As the German ambassador to Georgia said after the meeting, a meeting with Rati Bregadze was held in the Ministry of Justice regarding the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili.
"We were here with representatives of 15 EU member states and the USA. We met with the Minister of Justice regarding the case of Mikheil Saakashvili. We discussed current procedures and health issues. I can't go into the details," Peter Fischer, the German ambassador to Georgia, told Formula TV.