GYLA’s Statement on Illegal Actions against Inclusive Foundation

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) condemns illegal actions of the Ministry of Interior Affairs’ (MIA) officers against Inclusive Foundations and calls for immediate response to campaigns waged against NGOs recently. According to the December 23 press release of Inclusive Foundation, on December 15, 2009, at 7:00 pm the organization was raided by the police, who did not wear police uniforms and did not provide a search warrant at the request of the organization members. The also refused to reveal their identity. The police officers searched thirteen individuals present at the office, while making degrading, humiliating, abusive and threatening remarks toward the organization members. Paata Sabelashvili, the leader of the organization was arrested and charged with drug possession.

GYLA is representing the defendant.

GYLA is the first to evaluate the noted incident. We emphasize following violations of law:

• Those present at the office were searched without a warrant. Their cell phones were seized, although it is unclear whether substantial evidence existed that they were hiding an item to be found;

• Police officers searched individuals that arrived at the office later without a search warrant, although it was impossible for them to hide the item to be found, as they were not present when police officers started searching;

• Personal search reports were not drawn up and the office search report was not handed;

• Regulations of law were violated during the search and seizure at the foundation; more specifically: packages seized were not bagged and sealed on spot. As the defendant declares, all three packages were placed in a black plastic bag, rolled over and kept that way (one of the police officers put it in his pocket). The defendant signed the seal later at the police station. It shall also be noted that all items and documents found during the search shall be first presented to officers engaged in the investigative activity, their detailed description shall be recorded in the report and bagged and sealed when possible. Apart from the seal, the bagged item shall be displaying date and signatures of those officers who participated in the investigative activity. An item or a document obtained as a result of an unlawful search, through violating noted regulation loses or does not acquire the meaning of evidence and is inadmissible in trials to substantiate the accusation or the verdict of guilty.

• Under the law, officers performing the search shall “avoid damaging lock, door or any other item and disturbing an order at an apartment or any other premises to be searched as much as possible”. During the search of the Inclusive Foundation office unnecessary damage of items occurred on part of searching officers. LGBT posters were torn down. Noted actions could have never been relevant to purpose of the search to find and seize the evidence of an offence or and item obtained illegally. Under Para 2 of Article 4 of the Law on Police of Georgia, discrimination is forbidden, while Article 3.3. of the Police Code of Ethics of Ethics specifies that “policeman shall fulfill imposed duties justly, impartially and shall ensure equality of every citizen before law, regardless of race, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national, ethnic and social belonging, origin, education, property and title, place of residence or any other personal condition”. Under the “10 Basic Human Rights Principles” of the organization Amnesty International, law enforcement officers shall provide particular care and attention to such vulnerable groups as minorities while fulfilling their duties. Apart from the above mentioned procedural violations, we consider that abasement of dignity of sexual minorities by MIA officers during fulfillment of their duties, as well as the use of uncensored vocabulary, threats made against foundation members, use of homophobic expressions intended to intimidate them, is directed against ethical norms and is discrediting MIA at the same time. Under the Disciplinary Regulations of MIA and the Police Code of Ethics, noted circumstances provide basis for MIA officers’ legal liability. GYLA calls on MIA’s General Inspection and other relevant bodies to examine violations listed in the statement immediately and exercise legal liability measures against individuals concerned.

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association

ILGA-Europe: Paata Sabelashvili is free, Georgian police still keeps under surveillance the Inclusive Foundation office and its staff

MEDIA RELEASE

26 December 2009

For immediate release

Paata Sabelashvili is free, Georgian police still keeps under surveillance the Inclusive Foundation office and its staff

Paata Sabelashvili, board member of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board and a leader of the Inclusive Foundation in Georgia, has been released and is now recovering after nearly two weeks detention.

Nevertheless ILGA-Europe is concerned with the continuous surveillance of the Inclusive Foundation office by Georgian police, including tapping the telephone conversations of the Inclusive Foundations staff.

Linda Freimane, Co-Chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board said:
“We are relieved and happy Paata is free and well. We want to thank all organisations and individuals across the world who supported Paata and campaigned for his release.”

Martin K.I. Christensen, Co-Chairs of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Boards, said:
“There are a few questions still to be answered by the Georgian authorities. We are concerned that the raid on the office of the Inclusive Foundation which took place on 15 December 2009 was disproportionate and humiliating. We are very concerned with the way the police forces treated the staff of the Inclusive Foundation and with the damage they cause to the office. The other worry is that Georgian police still monitors the office and that other leaders of the Inclusive Foundation, Tinatin Japaridze and Eka Agdgomelashvili, continue to be under police surveillance. We call on the Georgian authorities to immediately end intimidation and any surveillance of the Inclusive Foundation office and its staff.”

ILGA-Europe

Appeal: Georgian civil society organization "Inclusive" attacked

To the President of Georgia
To the Public Defender of Georgia
To the Diplomatic Services accredited in Georgia
To the representatives of International Organizations

On December 15 2009 at 7 pm the office of Inclusive Foundation, a well known Georgian LGBT organization, was raided by five armed men without uniform. The leaders of the organization together with about 15 community members of the ‘Women’s Club” were present in the office. They were ordered not to leave the room and were told that only their chief was of interest to them. The head of the organization, Paata Sabelashvili was taken to a separate room. Then the men made a telephone call and at about 8 pm an additional group of armed men came in. According to witnesses, they did not wear police uniforms (several of them put on jackets with the police inscription only in the office), they did not provide a search warrant, did not inform about their identity or agency they represented and did not explain the purpose of their intrusion.

Witnesses point out that several men reminded them that two witnesses had to be present during the search taking place in another room. Cell phones were confiscated, everyone was moved to a separate room where several men guarded them. Women were locked up in the room for several hours, they were not allowed to contact their families, they were humiliated by being called “perverts”, “sick persons”, Satanists. They were laughed at and several men told them that their photos would be taken and disseminated to reveal their sexual orientation. One of the unidentified men tore down a poster in the office. One of the leaders of the organization, Eka Agdgomelashvili, together with Tinatin Japaridze were threatened that they would be killed if they did not stop demanding search warrants and other official documents. Some of the armed men responded that “we will only show papers to those to whom we need to show them.”

Paata Sabelashvili, the leader of the organization, was arrested as a result of the raid. Soon after arrest he confessed to the possession of 8 grams of marijuana. However, because he made the confession before seeing his lawyer, without the presence of anyone except law enforcement officials, the validity and voluntary character of the confession is highly suspicious.

One of the armed men, distinct with homophobic statements and his aggressive behavior towards staff members, introduced himself as an Operative Officer of the Constitutional Security Department of the Ministry of Interior Giorgi Gegechkori. However, on the pretrial measure hearing of Paata Sabelashvili he appeared as Investigator David Khidesheli. Another man, who later turned out to be the head of the police division, threatened Eka Agdgomelashvili with killing if she immediately would not stop pointing out that they were violating the law. He shouted : “I will kill you!” “I will tear you into pieces!” After one of the staff members said that he was exceeding his powers, he shouted: “Sue me, I don’t give a damn”, “I am myself the Law and the Judge!”

Armed men searched through all bags of staff members in the office. Some of the bags were searched in another room when the owners were not present. Only after that they were returned to their owners. Two women officers forcibly took girls (often in pairs) to the bathroom, stripped them naked and searched them. The girls were humiliated and called “sick” in the process. There was no search protocol composed as a result of the search. Having finished the search, one of the women officers exclaimed that having seen these women, she began to hate women’s body.

Staff members of the organization are under continuous surveillance up till now. Their homes, movement in the city and office are under constant surveillance by cars full of men without uniform. One such car is permanently stationed outside the entrance to the house of one of the staff members.

The raid on the Inclusive Foundation represents a logical continuation of the policy of repression of non-governmental organizations conducted by the Georgian government. It aims at marginalizing, intimidating and discrediting human rights defenders in Georgia. One should have in mind the recent attacks on Georgian civic organizations: public broadcaster of Georgia recently aired a coverage about the alleged attempts of extortion by the members of NGO ‘Human Rights Priority’; Rustavi 2 publicized a defamatory news report about applications submitted by the Georgian Young Lawyers Association to the European Court of Human Rights; Officers of the Ministry of Interior threatened and attempted an extortion from the journalist of newspaper “Batumelebi”. Officers publicly implicated in the incident have not yet been punished despite the assurances by the Ministry of Interior.

We are concerned that particular character of the organization will be manipulated for the purposes of artificially nurturing the aggression of radical fundamentalist groups. It is noteworthy, that the Georgian government has been abstaining from defending the rights of its citizens in such situations. It portrays itself abroad as a victim of the internal clashes of liberal and fundamentalist groups, while internally it appeases to traditionally minded electorate. Hence, we are alarmed about the trend of purposeful discrediting and intimidation of the Georgian civil society leaders.

Therefore,

1) We protest the violation of basic rights, dignity, and identity of victims and demand that those persons, who performed the acts of verbal, psychological and physical violence against the members of the Inclusive Foundation be punished.

2) We demand the Georgian government to react to every similar incident as it is established by the law, conduct inquiries and punish those who perpetrate such acts

3) We appeal to international organizations and diplomatic services accredited in Tbilisi to thoroughly monitor the detention of Paata Sabelashvili and pressure the Georgian government for protection of his Constitutional rights. We ask for continuous monitoring of such incidents and for accountability of the Georgian government to defend the basic rights of its citizens.

4) Georgian media should follow the principle of the presumption of innocence of the individual and should refrain from publicizing unverified information.

5) Surveillance and intimidation of the members of the Inclusive Foundation should be immediately discontinued.

6) We appeal to the Public Defender of Georgia to investigate the instance of raid on the Inclusive Foundation and the arrest of its leader Paata Sabelashvili.

Inclusive - Foundation

Police attacks Inclusive Foundation in Tbilisi. Head of organisation Paata Sabelashvili arrested

On December 15 2009 the office of the Inclusive Foundation, a well known Georgian LGBT organisation, was raided by the police. They did not wear police uniforms, did not provide a search warrant, did not inform about their identity or agency they represented and did not explain the purpose of their intrusion. Members of the LGBT community were present in the office during the raid for a regular meeting of the "Women’s Club". The men confiscated cell phones of all those present in the office, did not allow them to contact their families, and made degrading and humiliating remarks, such as ‘perverts’, ‘sick persons’, Satanists. They threatened to take photos of the women and disseminate them to reveal their sexual orientation. They also threatened ‘to kill’ and ‘tear to pieces’ one of the leaders of the organisation, Eka Agdgomelashvili, if she did not stop demanding the search warrant and identification documents of the police.

Paata Sabelashvili, the leader of the organization, was arrested as a result of the raid. Soon after arrest he confessed to the possession of 8 grams of marijuana. However, because he made the confession before seeing his lawyer, without the presence of anyone except law enforcement officials, the validity and voluntary character of the confession is highly suspicious.

Staff members of the organization are under continuous surveillance up till now. Their homes, movement in the city and office are under constant surveillance by cars full of men without uniform. One such car is permanently stationed outside the entrance to the house of one of the staff members.

The raid on the Inclusive Foundation represents a logical continuation of the policy of repression of non-governmental organizations conducted by the Georgian government. It aims at marginalizing, intimidating and discrediting human rights defenders in Georgia.

Inclusive - Foundation

World AIDS Day 2009 "Stop the Counter"

Public Information and Need of Knowledge, Armenian Student Forum, Real World - Real People, Positive People Armenian Network non-governmental organizations conducted “Stop the Counter” action dedicated to the World AIDS Day aiming to raise society's awareness and consciousness about the spread of HIV and stigma & discrimination against people living with HIV.

In the frames of the project trainers of PINK Armenia organized "HIV awareness" training sessions for 70 volunteers of ASF from November 26 to 29.

On November 30, we organized a press conference in "Urbat" press club dedicated to the World AIDS Day (financial support by Norwegian Government). About 25 journalists participated in the discussion addressing their questions to the coordination team of the event. During the conference mainly were touched the problems of students, drug users, men having sex with men, sex workers and people living with HIV.

That evening, which was the last preparational day, stayed in our memories as a day of friendship, tolerence and unity. More than 20 people joined to make hundreds of handmade boxes, tasty cookies with the shape of ribbon, drawing on the posters and T-shirts. It was the day when people did not care if others are married or single, students or employees, gay or heterosexual, living with or without HIV.

On December 1, we all gathered near the statue of Komitas (near Conservatory) at 4pm, having white T-Shirts with numbers on it and a red ribbon on the back side. Those numbers were symbolizing the number of people being infected with HIV in Armenia.
After we moved, taking direction to Republic Square through the Northern avenue. Like never before, we had few live performances and flash mobs on the way, tryingto concentrate society's attention on the issues of HIV and human rights. We had several banners in our hands written on it: "HIV cannot be transmitted by respect, friendship, care, touch". The big Red Ribbon was held by two people in the front of the march.
At Republic Square we continued the other part of our action "Human Ribbon", to make the shape of ribbon with the help of participants as a sign of solidarity of people living with HIV.
At 6pm, as it was planned, we started the "Stop the Counter" action at Aznavour Square, near the cinema Moscow. There was a big screen, showing increasing number of people being infected with HIV, the goal of this part was to stop the counter with the help of society.There were colorful stones on the table and people were asked to make their contribution, to put one stone in the box. As heavier the box was becoming as slower the counter was working.Volunteers had time to explain people the importance of their input on prevention of HIV and respecting the rights of others. For each person we had a small box with a "Ribbon" cookie, two condoms and an info material.This was another step to break stereotypes among population about condoms, that condom can be in the same box with food and there is nothing wrong in it.
People were really active and the counter was stopped even earlier than we planned, It stoped on 2471, almost the number of people living with HIV in Armenia that statistic shows.

After we entered the cinema Moscow where National Center for AIDS Prevention prepared a movie to show. Before movie starts we had another live show on the stage, where each participant said one phrase created by the World AIDS Campaign (with few changes) in the frames of this year's slogan "Universal Access and Human Rights".
- I have rights to be healthy
- I am safe
- I am getting treatment
- I am well
- I am living my rights
- My baby has rights to live
- I am accepted
(watch the video below)

***
We call our society to pay more attention on HIV related issues and remember that HIV can be transmitted also by hate, intolerence, abuse and dscrimination.
Make your contribution! Stop the counter of HIV infecting.
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PINK wants to thank the coordinator of the action Elmira Bakhshinyan (RWRP), Women's Resource Center and National Citizens' Initiative for their participation, municipality of Yerevan city for permission, all the volunteers and coordination team for their hard work and UNAIDS for the financial support.

more pictures are available at PINK website