I wonder if this is linked to UN?
. http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/georgia1002-ltr.htm
HRW Letter to U.S. President George Bush:
Challenge Georgian President on Religious Violence
October 1, 2001
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush,
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Related Material
Georgia: Challenge Shevardnadze on religious violence
Press Release, October 2, 2001
Georgia: Mobs Terrorize Non-Orthodox Christians
Press Release, August 29, 2001
Memorandum to the U.S. Government on Religious Violence in the Republic of Georgia
HRW Backgrounder, August 2001
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We are writing to ask that in your forthcoming meeting with Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, you emphasize human rights as a cornerstone of Georgia’s partnership with the United States. Now more than ever, the Georgian leadership needs to know that religious intolerance and police torture are incompatible with the rule of law, and that America’s interest in these issues has not been diminished by the new global fight against terrorism.
Religious violence
In August, Human Rights Watch published a memorandum documenting violent attacks on worshippers of non-Orthodox faiths, and urging the Administration to challenge the Georgian government's failure to address the violence. More than 40 attacks have taken place this year; more than 80 violent incidents have been reported since 1999. The assailants, civilian militants who are sometimes led by Orthodox priests, have meted out beatings, ransacked homes, and destroyed religious literature. The mobs target Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentacostalists, Baptists, and followers of other Christian faiths non-native to Georgia, attempting to intimidate them into abandoning their faith.
Encouraged by government and police inaction, the frequency of attacks is on the rise; three took place during the past week alone. On September 28 a group of militants attacked Jehovah’s Witnesses in Tbilisi and in the Marneuli district, causing serious injuries to about fifteen people; the attackers were attempting to prevent the Jehovah’s Witnesses from staging an annual assembly. There was plenty of warning and precedent for the police to have protected the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but according to most accounts they took no measures to do so. Two days later militants attacked Jehovah’s Witnesses just outside Tbilisi. The authors of these attacks, and their supporters, are well known to Georgian law enforcement agencies and to the Georgian public.
While President Shevardnadze has spoken out against the attacks and ordered police and prosecutors to "identify and punish" perpetrators, the authorities have failed to investigate seriously or make arrests. The leader of the majority of the attacks, Vasili Mkalavishvili, a defrocked Orthodox priest, openly claims to receive help from the police and security services. Police officers have failed to intervene to protect the victims and in some cases the police themselves have violently broken up prayer gatherings. We hope you will remind President Shevardnadze that particularly in the wake of the September 11 attacks, all governments need to step up the fight against religious intolerance. We hope you will ask him for vigorous efforts to investigate and prosecute attackers, and to make publicly available a case-by-case description of actions taken to this end.
Legal Reform /Torture
Legal reform is necessary to combat torture and corruption, both of which are long-standing, endemic problems in Georgia. To date, the Georgian government has not implemented reforms that would prevent torture and provide redress to torture victims. Last year Human Rights Watch published a report detailing how current law severely restricts access to the courts prior to trial to hear complaints from victims of torture and other blatant procedural violations committed by the procuracy, police and other security forces. While the Georgian parliament in 1998 adopted a new code of criminal procedure that would have allowed greater access to the courts, this reform was repealed in 1999, with the support of the Procuracy General and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In June, the Georgian parliament enacted an amendment reinstating the right of witnesses to consult with a lawyer, which if implemented would mark progress. But other measures need to be adopted as well. Those under criminal investigation must have the right to submit a complaint of abuse directly to the court. Detainees must have prompt access to a lawyer of their own choosing, and anyone who has been mistreated by police or other security forces must have unimpeded access to impartial forensic medical examinations. We hope you will impress upon President Shevardnadze the need to implement these reforms.
We thank you for your attention to the concerns in this letter.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Andersen
Executive Director
Europe and Central Asia division
Tom Malinowski
Washington Advocacy Director
cc:
The Hon. Colin Powell
Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Amb. Daniel Fried
Amb. Elizabeth Jones
Mr. Lorne Craner