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Georgia: Update to GGA30094.E of 18 September 1998 on the treatment of supporters of former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia by the state and by society, particularly in Tbilisi and Gori (September 1998 - June 1999)

A 10 December 1998 AP article states:

Anti-government protesters clashed with police in the Georgian capital on Thursday after the demonstrators tried to block traffic on a central street. Several police officers and demonstrators suffered light injuries, said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Maya Musidze. The protesters were followers of former President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who was ousted in 1992 and died under mysterious circumstances in 1994. His supporters said the rally was staged to mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Between 300 and 400 people took part in the protest, which was headed by the ex-president's widow, Manana Archvadze-Gamsakhurdia. Gamsakhurdia's followers remain bitterly opposed to President Eduard Shevardnadze and claim his government is illegal. Gamsakhurdia supporters staged a mutiny against Shevardnadze at a military garrison this fall, but the revolt failed after one day and soldiers returned to their base.

A 19 December 1998 Rezonansi article states:

On 17 December, having dispersed people intending to take part in a rally outside the parliament building, law enforcers switched over to those who gathered in the Merab Kostava courtyard in a peaceful act of protest. About 20 people sat there, staging a sit-down hunger strike. They were demanding that Manana Archvadze and Dali Pirosmanishvili be freed. In the evening, as the hunger-strikers were praying, the courtyard, where electricity had been switched off, was raided by members of a special purpose militia detachment [OMON]; they wore ski masks, were armed with truncheons and electric-shock dispensers, and were howling and barking like dogs. They dragged the hunger-strikers and their supporters out of the bushes and corners where they were trying to hide, pushed them into buses, and drove them away.

The policemen tried to break into the Kostava House, where a terrified child was hiding under the table from the raging policemen. The members of the OMON unit confiscated a film from Iberia TV Channel journalists who were filming their brutal actions. Zurab Lezhava, deputy energy minister in Zviad Gamsakhurdia's government, was among those beaten up. His skull was broken and he died there on that cursed night. All this happened in our own capital city and all this was done to fellow citizens....

Talking to journalists, [Tbilisi police chief] Soso Alavidze denied that the deceased was Nugzar Lezhava. "We have checked on Lezhava and found him alive at home," he said. How about the glaring evidence? Lezhava was a representative of the Gamsakhurdia authorities and all the participants in the action knew him by sight.

A 19 January 1999 ITAR-TASS article states:

The Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has finalized an investigation into the anti-governmental mutiny that occurred in the country's west on October 19-21, 1998, Deputy Main Military Prosecutor Nodar Okruashvili told correspondents on Tuesday.

The majority of 44 men arrested on suspicion of organizing the mutiny and taking part in it are supporters of ex-president Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Some are former members of Zviadist armed units, others are former high-ranking officials who had the office during the presidency of Gamsakhurdia (1991), he said. Several officers of the Georgian Defense Ministry are charged with the crime as well. All of the 44 arrested are accused of high treason, and arms theft and other misdeeds. The police are searching for seven more organizers and participants in the mutiny, including its leader Lieutenant-Colonel Akaky Eliava, sources at the Main Military Prosecutor's Office said. In their words, Eliava and his supporters are hiding in Western Georgia. Criminal proceedings against them have not been finalized.

A 27 May 1999 Kavkasia-Press News Agency article states:

The authorities did their best to prevent a clash with supporters of the former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia on Georgia's independence day 26th May, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze told Kavkasia-Press.

The president said that this was why Zviadites Zviad Gamsakhurdia supporters had been offered to gather in the building of the Tbilisi opera and ballet theatre. However, Zviadites tried to hold a loud rally in Republic Square earlier that day, he said. Shevardnadze said he knew nothing about the dispersal of the rally and that he would by all means inquire into the case.

We may recall that a large group of Zviad Gamsakhurdia supporters gathered in the central square of Tbilisi on 26th May to mark Georgia's independence day and the 60th birthday anniversary of the Georgian national hero, Merab Kostava. The police dispersed the rally, arresting some of the participants in the rally and taking them to police custody. These people were released on the same day. According to the press service of the Round Table funded by Gamsakhurdia organization, the widow of the former president, Manana Archvadze-Gamsakhurdia, was detained by the police outside her house and taken in an unknown destination. Later in the evening, Manana Archvadze-Gamsakhurdia addressed her associates at a gathering in the opera and ballet theatre. No excesses were reported from the celebrations in the opera and ballet theatre.

No additional information on the treatment of supporters of former president Zviad Gamsakhurdia by the state and society in Georgia, nor information on their treatment in Gori, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

The Associated Press (AP). 10 December 1998. "Anti-Government Protesters Clash with Police in Georgia." (NEXIS)

ITAR-TASS. 19 January 1999. Tengiz Pachkoria. "Investigation into October 1998 Mutiny Finalized." (NEXIS)

Kavkasia-Press News Agency [Tbilisi, in Georgian]. 27 May 1999. "Georgian President Promises to Inquire into Rally Dispersal on Independence Day." (27 May 1999 BBC Summary/NEXIS) 

Rezonansi [Tbilisi, in Georgian]. 19 December 1998. "Man Dies After Georgian Police Disperse Rally." (FBIS-SOV-98-354 20 Dec. 1998/WNC)

Additional Sources Consulted

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Internet, NEXIS/LEXIS, REFWORLD, WNC.

Resource Centre country file on Georgia. September 1998 - May 1999.

Topics: Persecution based on political opinion,