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tomm · 18 april 2006, 02:02

Na enkele jaren tijd is het tijd voor een evaluatie van de verwezenlijkingen van deze nieuwe regeringen, die een nieuwe tijd vol hoop en voorspoed zouden inluiden. Wat bleek? De nieuwe regimes deden het economisch slechter en zijn nog corrupter dan hun voorgangers (in het geval van Georgië een hele prestatie, want slechter dan Shevarnadze achtte iedereen voor onmogelijk... je weet wel Shevarnadze, de held van het Westen, van de Perestroika, de grootste ontvanger van Amerikaanse hulp na Israel, die erin slaagde op 13 jaar een van de rijkste republieken in de Sovjet-Unie naar Afrikaans niveau te brengen, zowel wat economische prestaties als wat corruptie betreft, hierbij geholpen door ultraliberale IMF-recepten die ook sociale en economische catastrofes veroorzaakten in Rusland en MoldaviË ...). In beide landen werd een pro-Westers regime (zowel Oekraïne als Georgië namen deel aan de oorlog in Irak...) vervangen door een ander pro-westers regime, hoewel dat in de media anders werd voorgesteld. Regimes die het op nagenoeg alle vlakken nog slechter doet dan hun voorgangers. Ondertussen, nu de zaken niet zo goed gaan als voorgesteld, is de interesse van onze media volledig weggevallen. Maar in de voormalige Sovjet-unie weten ze wel beter, de periode van revoluties is afgesloten. De wit-Russen en Russen zijn er zich heel goed van bewust dat hun levensstandaard hoger ligt dan in Oekraïne of Georgië, en dat die 2 landen er een zootje van gemaakt hebben.

[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]It is nearly two years since the republic of Georgia experienced what became known as a ‘Rose Revolution’. News media around the world heralded this development as the dawn of a new era in which the impoverished former Soviet republic sloughed off a corrupt and moribund regime to embrace young, market-orientated reformers under the leadership of Western-educated Mikhael Saakashvili who was elected the country’s president in January 2004.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]A year later, in November 2004, another ‘colour-coded’ revolution took place, this time in Ukraine. Again, the media pointed to Saakashvili and Georgia as the successful model for the latest spontaneous outburst of ‘people power’. The Georgian president was a regular commentator on the stand-off in Kiev offering comradeship and support to his fellow revolutionary, Viktor Yushchenko. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]However, as the Ukrainians warmed to their revolutionary theme, back home in Georgia any expectation that life might improve under the post-Shevardnadze regime had long since died. Rampant unemployment, disrupted power supplies and political infighting continued as they had done since the dawn of the country’s independence. On top of this, the judicial system was in disarray and reports of torture in the country’s prisons (whose population had doubled since 2003) were widely accepted – even by government employees. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]Representatives of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group conducted two missions to Georgia in 2005. In April 2005, they visited Tbilisi as the city was undergoing frenzied preparations for the forthcoming visit of President Bush on 10th May. Fences and walls were being put up and painted to hide dilapidated buildings along his route and road surfaces along which his entourage would proceed were being re-laid. People could be forgiven for recalling past imperial visits by the likes of Comrade Brezhnev.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]BHHRG interviewed media representatives, NGOs, opposition politicians and government appointed officials in Tbilisi’s town hall. They visited the main prison in Tbilisi (No.5) and the detention facility (known as prison No. 7) in the Ministry of the Interior. They also travelled to Gori and met NGO representatives from Tskinvali, South Ossetia. Finally, the Group went to Batumi, capital of Adjara, one year on from the ouster of its former leader, Aslan Abashidze, where they interviewed journalists, law enforcement officials and visited the region’s main prison. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]In July 2005, the Group returned to Georgia to investigate the case of Sulkhan Molashvili whose trial opened on 28th July. The proceedings against Molashvili bore all the marks of a political trial and it was widely accepted that he had been tortured while in custody. The Group attended the opening of the proceedings in Tbilisi’s Supreme Court and conducted a long interview with Mr. Molashvili in the prison hospital.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]BHHRG has followed events in Georgia closely since the overthrow of the country’s first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in 1991. This was the third occasion on which they had visited the country’s penitentiary system. Alarmingly, despite all efforts to improve Georgia’s law enforcement agencies, including membership of the Council of Europe, conditions have deteriorated further with corruption rife within a prison system seemingly, now run by the inmates rather than the authorities.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][FONT=arial][FONT=Arial]Elections were held in March 2004 to Georgia’s 235 seat parliament, but only for the 150 seats contested by proportional representation. Despite claims of fraud in the November 2003 poll, the 85 majoritarian MPs who won mandates then were not obliged to seek re-election. The results of the poll effectively produced a one-party state with Saakashvili’s National Movement-led coalition winning 135 seats. At first it claimed a clean sweep but, probably under US pressure, one other party, the New Conservatives, (also known as New Rights), was allowed to surmount the 7% threshold to enter parliament with 15 seats. Government ministries were filled with new blood, many co-opted from the NGO sector which had flourished in the late Shevardnadze period when it received massive infusions of Western funds. NGO operatives also took over civil service posts after a purging of the old guard. The salaries of many of these functionaries were reputedly paid from a fund set up by philanthropist, George Soros, including that of the Minister of Justice and Education.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]As BHHRG has documented[FONT=Arial][1][/FONT] the new government immediately set out to settle scores with Shevardnadze era officials. Many former ministers, local administrators and businessmen associated with the former regime were arrested - often live on television - for abuse of office, with people being dragged away in their underclothes. President Saakashvili regularly appeared on television to denounce the suspects, condemning them before any charges were laid. At the same time, some of the more senior officials were allowed to buy their way out of prison by paying large amounts of the money into the state coffers. It was pointed out that this novel form of ‘plea-bargaining’ was lawful. However, as in most jurisdictions, the drafters of the Georgian legislation[FONT=Arial][2][/FONT] did not anticipate the handing over of money in exchange for freedom. Despite the obvious impropriety involved in all this, Western commentators lauded the new government for taking bold measures in the fight against corruption. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]In July 2004, the president embarked upon a mission to retake South Ossetia, one of the regions which had broken away from Georgia as the Soviet Union collapsed. The manner in which this campaign was conducted and its manifest failure humiliated Saakashvili: several policemen and soldiers were killed in the operation and the Georgians had to retreat empty handed. Television stations were banned from showing the funerals. At the same time, Saakashvili upped the tension with Georgia’s other breakaway province, Abkhazia, again, without any tangible results . [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Not everyone was happy with the president’s approach to reintegrating the renegade provinces. It was reported that the prime minister Zurab Zhvania supported a more nuanced approach to this and other government policies. Many regarded Zhvania as a moderate influence on the excitable president. In February 2005, Zhvania died in mysterious circumstances allegedly poisoned by the fumes from a faulty gas heater. Most Georgians assume he was murdered even though an investigation carried out by the authorities, and aided by the FBI, supported the official version of accidental death. In the aftermath, opposition to the government has grown both from Zhvania’s associates in parliament and from other parties. Although the New Conservatives are the only opposition party in parliament, both the Republican and Labour parties have started to co-operate to fight future elections. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]As the infighting continues, Georgia’s economic plight has failed to improve with the change of regime even though foreign aid and assistance has doubled since November 2003; Georgia is the second largest recipient of US assistance after Israel. $1 billion was pledged at a donors’ conference held in Brussels in 2004 and on 16th August 2005, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation announced a 5-year grant of $295.3m. for infrastructure programmes and to eliminate poverty. The MCC specifically targets “poor countries with proper governance and realistic prospects of economic reform”.[FONT=Arial][3][/FONT] On top of this, the IMF approved a three-year, $144 m. loan.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Privatization was going to be the engine of future prosperity. “Everything is for sale” said former Economics Minister, Kakha Bendukidze. But after nearly 15 years of economic collapse, there are few entities attractive to foreign investors and the programme has been deadlocked for some time. By summer 2005, 2 large enterprises and 35 medium to small enterprises have been sold.[FONT=Arial][4][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Unemployment continues to grow. In the aftermath of the ‘revolution’ 80, 000 people were rendered jobless. Large numbers have been sacked from municipal jobs while a recent educational reform has led to the dismissal of numerous university teachers. The only job creation noted by BHHRG is in the booming construction industry presently underway in Tbilisi where large parts of the historic city are being demolished. In Adjara, all enterprises associated with the former president Aslan Abashidze have been closed and workers sacked, including tile making and boat building factories. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]The quality of life for ordinary people has continued to deteriorate. Power supplies are regularly disrupted and demonstrations have taken place all over the country in protest. It seems clear that Georgia probably has plenty of electricity, but, much of it is sold to neighbouring Turkey rather than provided to the locals. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]As the morlochs scrambled for a living, Saakashvili listed the regimes success stories, beginning with the opening of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2005 which is predicted to bring Georgia valuable transit fees. Otherwise, according to one of BHHRG’s Georgian acquaintances, there is little to show for the ‘Rose Revolution’ other than the upgrading of the Georgian army. People wonder, against whom is all this military paraphernalia directed? And, the answer from the government and its tame media is always the same: ‘Russia’. Accusations of plots, sabotage and evil imperialistic designs are regularly directed against Georgia’s former colonial master, even as the Russian army pulls out of the country, well ahead of its original plans for departure. Russia’s obvious complicity in removing Shevardnadze and, after him, Abashidze, is brushed aside.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]The ‘White House’: Mikheil Saakashvili was hailed as a new breed of Georgian politician, someone with clean hands and a forthright manner. On taking office he pledged that “it was unacceptable for the Georgian president to have an inflated staff or a luxurious residence”[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][6][/FONT][/FONT] – he was referring to the former government residence in Krtsanisi on the outskirts of Tbilisi. This would be ‘sold’ and he and his wife would live in a small, two room flat in the headquarters of the Tbilisi traffic police, an old Tsarist building on the banks of the Kura river, which would be revamped for the purpose.
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]One year later, the commitment to sack cloth and ashes has turned to the proverbial dust. Residents of Tbilisi noted that a large structure, already dubbed the ‘White House’, was under construction. The police headquarters (which Saakashvili had claimed “something could be added to”) and a large swathe of domestic dwellings in the vicinity had been destroyed. On becoming president Saakashvili had said “I told them that I did not need more”. It is a two-storey building, it is enough. Not a single brick should be added to it and it should remain as it is now”.[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][7][/FONT][/FONT] A row broke when MP Valery Gelashvili claimed that his construction company, Evra, had the contract to refurbish the site. On 14th July, Gelashvili was attacked in the street by unknown assailants and badly beaten.[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][8][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]On 27th July, 2005, BHHRG visited the site of the new palace. Only by examining the architect’s drawing and surveying the vast construction site is it possible to fully comprehend the scale of the enterprise. For one thing, when completed, this palace will be much larger than the White House. Its nearest competitor in the Caucasus is the new US embassy in Yerevan, in neighbouring Armenia. Such a massive structure seems unnecessary and inappropriate for the president of a small, impoverished country like Georgia. The question arises: will it only house Saakashvili and his entourage? Who has paid for it? In 2004 it was reported that “the reconstruction of the traffic police building will not be borne by the state budget”.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]After a few minutes photographing the building site (there were no signs to prohibit such activity) BHHRG’s representatives were detained by the police until a senior officer arrived. After a wait of nearly an hour they were allowed to go, but only after being photographed by a silent figure in the back of the police car. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]http://www.bhhrg.org/CountryReport.a...t=next&keyword=[/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

18 april 2006, 02:02	#1
tomm Secretaris-Generaal VN Geregistreerd: 4 juli 2003 Locatie: Nederland Berichten: 43.671	Van roze en oranje naar bont en blauw Na enkele jaren tijd is het tijd voor een evaluatie van de verwezenlijkingen van deze nieuwe regeringen, die een nieuwe tijd vol hoop en voorspoed zouden inluiden. Wat bleek? De nieuwe regimes deden het economisch slechter en zijn nog corrupter dan hun voorgangers (in het geval van Georgië een hele prestatie, want slechter dan Shevarnadze achtte iedereen voor onmogelijk... je weet wel Shevarnadze, de held van het Westen, van de Perestroika, de grootste ontvanger van Amerikaanse hulp na Israel, die erin slaagde op 13 jaar een van de rijkste republieken in de Sovjet-Unie naar Afrikaans niveau te brengen, zowel wat economische prestaties als wat corruptie betreft, hierbij geholpen door ultraliberale IMF-recepten die ook sociale en economische catastrofes veroorzaakten in Rusland en MoldaviË ...). In beide landen werd een pro-Westers regime (zowel Oekraïne als Georgië namen deel aan de oorlog in Irak...) vervangen door een ander pro-westers regime, hoewel dat in de media anders werd voorgesteld. Regimes die het op nagenoeg alle vlakken nog slechter doet dan hun voorgangers. Ondertussen, nu de zaken niet zo goed gaan als voorgesteld, is de interesse van onze media volledig weggevallen. Maar in de voormalige Sovjet-unie weten ze wel beter, de periode van revoluties is afgesloten. De wit-Russen en Russen zijn er zich heel goed van bewust dat hun levensstandaard hoger ligt dan in Oekraïne of Georgië, en dat die 2 landen er een zootje van gemaakt hebben. [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]It is nearly two years since the republic of Georgia experienced what became known as a ‘Rose Revolution’. News media around the world heralded this development as the dawn of a new era in which the impoverished former Soviet republic sloughed off a corrupt and moribund regime to embrace young, market-orientated reformers under the leadership of Western-educated Mikhael Saakashvili who was elected the country’s president in January 2004.[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]A year later, in November 2004, another ‘colour-coded’ revolution took place, this time in Ukraine. Again, the media pointed to Saakashvili and Georgia as the successful model for the latest spontaneous outburst of ‘people power’. The Georgian president was a regular commentator on the stand-off in Kiev offering comradeship and support to his fellow revolutionary, Viktor Yushchenko. [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]However, as the Ukrainians warmed to their revolutionary theme, back home in Georgia any expectation that life might improve under the post-Shevardnadze regime had long since died. Rampant unemployment, disrupted power supplies and political infighting continued as they had done since the dawn of the country’s independence. On top of this, the judicial system was in disarray and reports of torture in the country’s prisons (whose population had doubled since 2003) were widely accepted – even by government employees. [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]Representatives of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group conducted two missions to Georgia in 2005. In April 2005, they visited Tbilisi as the city was undergoing frenzied preparations for the forthcoming visit of President Bush on 10th May. Fences and walls were being put up and painted to hide dilapidated buildings along his route and road surfaces along which his entourage would proceed were being re-laid. People could be forgiven for recalling past imperial visits by the likes of Comrade Brezhnev.[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]BHHRG interviewed media representatives, NGOs, opposition politicians and government appointed officials in Tbilisi’s town hall. They visited the main prison in Tbilisi (No.5) and the detention facility (known as prison No. 7) in the Ministry of the Interior. They also travelled to Gori and met NGO representatives from Tskinvali, South Ossetia. Finally, the Group went to Batumi, capital of Adjara, one year on from the ouster of its former leader, Aslan Abashidze, where they interviewed journalists, law enforcement officials and visited the region’s main prison. [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]In July 2005, the Group returned to Georgia to investigate the case of Sulkhan Molashvili whose trial opened on 28th July. The proceedings against Molashvili bore all the marks of a political trial and it was widely accepted that he had been tortured while in custody. The Group attended the opening of the proceedings in Tbilisi’s Supreme Court and conducted a long interview with Mr. Molashvili in the prison hospital.[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial] [/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial]BHHRG has followed events in Georgia closely since the overthrow of the country’s first president, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, in 1991. This was the third occasion on which they had visited the country’s penitentiary system. Alarmingly, despite all efforts to improve Georgia’s law enforcement agencies, including membership of the Council of Europe, conditions have deteriorated further with corruption rife within a prison system seemingly, now run by the inmates rather than the authorities.[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial][FONT=arial][FONT=Arial]Elections were held in March 2004 to Georgia’s 235 seat parliament, but only for the 150 seats contested by proportional representation. Despite claims of fraud in the November 2003 poll, the 85 majoritarian MPs who won mandates then were not obliged to seek re-election. The results of the poll effectively produced a one-party state with Saakashvili’s National Movement-led coalition winning 135 seats. At first it claimed a clean sweep but, probably under US pressure, one other party, the New Conservatives, (also known as New Rights), was allowed to surmount the 7% threshold to enter parliament with 15 seats. Government ministries were filled with new blood, many co-opted from the NGO sector which had flourished in the late Shevardnadze period when it received massive infusions of Western funds. NGO operatives also took over civil service posts after a purging of the old guard. The salaries of many of these functionaries were reputedly paid from a fund set up by philanthropist, George Soros, including that of the Minister of Justice and Education.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]As BHHRG has documented[FONT=Arial][1][/FONT] the new government immediately set out to settle scores with Shevardnadze era officials. Many former ministers, local administrators and businessmen associated with the former regime were arrested - often live on television - for abuse of office, with people being dragged away in their underclothes. President Saakashvili regularly appeared on television to denounce the suspects, condemning them before any charges were laid. At the same time, some of the more senior officials were allowed to buy their way out of prison by paying large amounts of the money into the state coffers. It was pointed out that this novel form of ‘plea-bargaining’ was lawful. However, as in most jurisdictions, the drafters of the Georgian legislation[FONT=Arial][2][/FONT] did not anticipate the handing over of money in exchange for freedom. Despite the obvious impropriety involved in all this, Western commentators lauded the new government for taking bold measures in the fight against corruption. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]In July 2004, the president embarked upon a mission to retake South Ossetia, one of the regions which had broken away from Georgia as the Soviet Union collapsed. The manner in which this campaign was conducted and its manifest failure humiliated Saakashvili: several policemen and soldiers were killed in the operation and the Georgians had to retreat empty handed. Television stations were banned from showing the funerals. At the same time, Saakashvili upped the tension with Georgia’s other breakaway province, Abkhazia, again, without any tangible results . [/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Not everyone was happy with the president’s approach to reintegrating the renegade provinces. It was reported that the prime minister Zurab Zhvania supported a more nuanced approach to this and other government policies. Many regarded Zhvania as a moderate influence on the excitable president. In February 2005, Zhvania died in mysterious circumstances allegedly poisoned by the fumes from a faulty gas heater. Most Georgians assume he was murdered even though an investigation carried out by the authorities, and aided by the FBI, supported the official version of accidental death. In the aftermath, opposition to the government has grown both from Zhvania’s associates in parliament and from other parties. Although the New Conservatives are the only opposition party in parliament, both the Republican and Labour parties have started to co-operate to fight future elections. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]As the infighting continues, Georgia’s economic plight has failed to improve with the change of regime even though foreign aid and assistance has doubled since November 2003; Georgia is the second largest recipient of US assistance after Israel. $1 billion was pledged at a donors’ conference held in Brussels in 2004 and on 16th August 2005, the US Millennium Challenge Corporation announced a 5-year grant of $295.3m. for infrastructure programmes and to eliminate poverty. The MCC specifically targets “poor countries with proper governance and realistic prospects of economic reform”.[FONT=Arial][3][/FONT] On top of this, the IMF approved a three-year, $144 m. loan.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Privatization was going to be the engine of future prosperity. “Everything is for sale” said former Economics Minister, Kakha Bendukidze. But after nearly 15 years of economic collapse, there are few entities attractive to foreign investors and the programme has been deadlocked for some time. By summer 2005, 2 large enterprises and 35 medium to small enterprises have been sold.[FONT=Arial][4][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]Unemployment continues to grow. In the aftermath of the ‘revolution’ 80, 000 people were rendered jobless. Large numbers have been sacked from municipal jobs while a recent educational reform has led to the dismissal of numerous university teachers. The only job creation noted by BHHRG is in the booming construction industry presently underway in Tbilisi where large parts of the historic city are being demolished. In Adjara, all enterprises associated with the former president Aslan Abashidze have been closed and workers sacked, including tile making and boat building factories. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]The quality of life for ordinary people has continued to deteriorate. Power supplies are regularly disrupted and demonstrations have taken place all over the country in protest. It seems clear that Georgia probably has plenty of electricity, but, much of it is sold to neighbouring Turkey rather than provided to the locals. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]As the morlochs scrambled for a living, Saakashvili listed the regimes success stories, beginning with the opening of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2005 which is predicted to bring Georgia valuable transit fees. Otherwise, according to one of BHHRG’s Georgian acquaintances, there is little to show for the ‘Rose Revolution’ other than the upgrading of the Georgian army. People wonder, against whom is all this military paraphernalia directed? And, the answer from the government and its tame media is always the same: ‘Russia’. Accusations of plots, sabotage and evil imperialistic designs are regularly directed against Georgia’s former colonial master, even as the Russian army pulls out of the country, well ahead of its original plans for departure. Russia’s obvious complicity in removing Shevardnadze and, after him, Abashidze, is brushed aside.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial][/FONT] [FONT=Arial]The ‘White House’: Mikheil Saakashvili was hailed as a new breed of Georgian politician, someone with clean hands and a forthright manner. On taking office he pledged that “it was unacceptable for the Georgian president to have an inflated staff or a luxurious residence”[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][6][/FONT][/FONT] – he was referring to the former government residence in Krtsanisi on the outskirts of Tbilisi. This would be ‘sold’ and he and his wife would live in a small, two room flat in the headquarters of the Tbilisi traffic police, an old Tsarist building on the banks of the Kura river, which would be revamped for the purpose. [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]One year later, the commitment to sack cloth and ashes has turned to the proverbial dust. Residents of Tbilisi noted that a large structure, already dubbed the ‘White House’, was under construction. The police headquarters (which Saakashvili had claimed “something could be added to”) and a large swathe of domestic dwellings in the vicinity had been destroyed. On becoming president Saakashvili had said “I told them that I did not need more”. It is a two-storey building, it is enough. Not a single brick should be added to it and it should remain as it is now”.[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][7][/FONT][/FONT] A row broke when MP Valery Gelashvili claimed that his construction company, Evra, had the contract to refurbish the site. On 14th July, Gelashvili was attacked in the street by unknown assailants and badly beaten.[FONT=Arial][FONT=Arial][8][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]On 27th July, 2005, BHHRG visited the site of the new palace. Only by examining the architect’s drawing and surveying the vast construction site is it possible to fully comprehend the scale of the enterprise. For one thing, when completed, this palace will be much larger than the White House. Its nearest competitor in the Caucasus is the new US embassy in Yerevan, in neighbouring Armenia. Such a massive structure seems unnecessary and inappropriate for the president of a small, impoverished country like Georgia. The question arises: will it only house Saakashvili and his entourage? Who has paid for it? In 2004 it was reported that “the reconstruction of the traffic police building will not be borne by the state budget”.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial] [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]After a few minutes photographing the building site (there were no signs to prohibit such activity) BHHRG’s representatives were detained by the police until a senior officer arrived. After a wait of nearly an hour they were allowed to go, but only after being photographed by a silent figure in the back of the police car. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial][/FONT] [FONT=Arial]http://www.bhhrg.org/CountryReport.a...t=next&keyword=[/FONT] [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] Laatst gewijzigd door tomm : 18 april 2006 om 02:08.