Georgia: rights defenders claim new form of pressure on oppositionists

Advocates, who visit the detained supporters of Georgia’s European integration, refuse to represent their interests, but are persuading them to plead guilty. Human rights defenders have called this a new form of pressure on oppositionists used by authorities.

Gudja Avsadjanishvili, an advocate, has reported that another advocate came to his client, Nikoloz Djavakhishvili. He offered Nikoloz to admit his guilt, promising that after that they would conclude an agreement with him.

Gamkrelidze represented the interests of two detained supporters of European integration – Omar Okribelashvili and Saba Meparishvili, both of whom had their sentences reduced under concluded procedural agreements. According to the advocate, Okribelashvili had asked him to meet Djavakhishvili.

"The fact that Gamkrelidze had met my client Djavakhishvili is a direct violation of ethics and a reason to suspend the advocate's license," Gudja Avsadjanishvili said on the air of the “Mtavari Arkhi” TV Company.

Family members of the detained supporters of European integration have stated that Georgian authorities "are pursuing a dirty policy aimed to involve detainees into their criminal plans."

An activist of the NGO "International Transparency-Georgia" fears that the detainees will be defenceless against pressure "which is unthinkable in a democratic state."

The actions of the advocate Gamkrelidze resemble mediation in authorities’ interests, Nika Chitadze, the head of the NGO "Centre for Security and International Relations Studies", has noted.