Loss of Power in Georgia Can Bring Trial, or Worse
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Version 0 of 1. KUTAISI, Georgia — Three days before Georgia’s presidential election, Ivane Merabishvili, the former prime minister and still a leader of the country’s main opposition party, sat in a courtroom here, in the glass box reserved for defendants held without bail. Prosecution witnesses were testifying against him in a convoluted case of alleged vote-buying ahead of last year’s parliamentary elections, which his party lost. In a larger sense, though, Mr. Merabishvili was Exhibit A of the consequences of falling out of power in this part of the world, which can mean not just losing a job but facing prosecution, prison, exile or worse. As voters go to the polls on Sunday to replace President Mikheil Saakashvili in what by all predictions will be a rare, peaceful transition, Mr. Merabishvili is not alone. More than 10 other former ministers or other high-level officials who served with him in Mr. Saakashvili’s government are on trial or facing prosecutions that could bring long sentences. There is also intense speculation that Mr. Saakashvili will be arrested when he leaves the presidency later this month — to the point that he has been in talks about taking a position as a visiting professor at Columbia University, with supporters advising him that time outside the country might reduce his chances of incarceration. To members of Mr. Saakashvili’s party, United National Movement, the criminal cases represent ruthless political retribution. It is particularly undeserved, they say, because Mr. Saakashvili accepted his party’s defeat last year by Georgian Dream, the party led by the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is now prime minister. “So far in Georgia the bad tradition is winners take all and losers stop existing,” David Bakradze, United National Movement’s candidate for president, said in an interview on Friday. “That was the tradition of all previous elections except the last one. Usually, we never had a ruling party which survived after the defeat in elections.” Mr. Bakradze is widely expected to lose to the Georgian Dream candidate, Giorgi Margvelashvili, in a race that has been overshadowed by Mr. Ivanishvili’s plan to step down as prime minister. He has said he will name a successor after the election. A late surge by a third candidate, Nino Burdzhanadze, who is a former speaker of Parliament, could further upend the race. If no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held. Ms. Burdzhanadze favors improved relations with Russia and has also called for Mr. Saakashvili’s arrest. Mr. Bakradze said his bid had been severely hamstrung by the prosecutions. “We have thousands and thousands of party activists who have been summoned and questioned, so basically the party machinery is severely damaged,” he said. Members of Mr. Ivanishvili’s government say the criminal cases represent something just as rare as peaceful elections in Georgia: legal accountability for corrupt public officials who have abused their authority. Archil Kbilashvili, the country’s chief prosecutor, described an array of crimes committed by former officials, including theft, bribery and embezzlement, as well as abuse of prisoners and other rights violations. In an interview in his office in Tbilisi, the capital, Mr. Kbilashvili denied that his office had made targets of political opponents. “What can I say?” he asked with a philosophical air. “On the one side, many say there are too many defendants from the prior government, and the process could be assessed as politically motivated. However, if you go to the Georgian public and ask their opinion, the prosecutor’s office is not as strong as it should be.” The officials facing criminal cases include two former defense ministers, Bachana Akhalaia and Davit Kezerashvili, who was arrested last week in France; a former justice minister, Nika Gvaramia; a former finance minister, Alexander Khetaguri; and a former health minister, Zurab Tchiaberashvili. Mr. Kbilashvili recited details of many of the cases, without consulting notes. “Each case is quite well prepared and substantiated,” he said, noting that Mr. Merabishvili was charged here after a six-month investigation. “For these six months, we questioned thousands of witnesses,” he said, adding, “These are not politically motivated prosecutions.” Mr. Bakradze and other supporters of Mr. Merabishvili expressed particular outrage that he had been jailed without bail for more than five months. They have compared his case to that of Yulia V. Tymoshenko, the jailed former prime minister of Ukraine. Mr. Kbilashvili countered that Mr. Merabishvili was so feared that no witness would testify against him knowing he was free. Western governments, which have pressed for Ms. Tymoshenko’s release, have expressed muted concern about the developments in Georgia. In a statement about Georgia this month, the European Union said, “Criminal prosecutions should be transparent, respectful of the due process, and apply the rule of law in an impartial way, free of political motivation — including in cases involving high-profile political personalities.” A recent report by Transparency International, a pro-democracy group, noted some positive aspects of the court proceedings. “The principles of equality and adversariality of the parties were observed,” the report said. “Defense as well as the prosecution enjoyed equal opportunities.” On the more than two-hour drive to the courthouse here from Tbilisi, Mr. Tchiaberashvili, the former health minister, who is a co-defendant with Mr. Merabishvili, alternated between expressing outrage over the prosecutions and promoting the Saakashvili government’s achievements, including the smoothly paved highway he was traveling. Mr. Tchiaberashvili, who was Georgia’s permanent representative to the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, France, as well as ambassador to Switzerland and the United Nations office in Geneva, said the charges were baseless, and would discourage young Georgians from public service. “Whatever good you do for your country, one day may come and a government that will put you in jail,” he said. “This brings nihilism and apathy.” He said he had refused to testify against Mr. Merabishvili, who is widely known as Vano. “Vano was the target from the beginning,” he said. “I’m collateral damage.” In addition to the current case, Mr. Merabishvili faces three others, including charges of ordering excessive force in the dispersal of a protest held in May 2011 when he was interior minister. In court, Mr. Merabishvili at times laid his head on his hands so he could speak to his lawyers through a small opening in the glass box. At other times, he jumped in to question witnesses, which is allowed under court rules, or winked and waved to supporters. In an interview on Friday night, President Saakashvili said he expected the prosecution to fail. “This case will collapse if there is even the slightest fairness in the court,” he said. But he conceded that he, too, could be a target. “The prime minister envisions for me either exile or jail,” he said, noting that he would enjoy an academic appointment but that no offer had been made, and that he would never leave Georgia for good. Mr. Tchiaberashvili said the prosecutions were unnecessary given Mr. Saakashvili’s willingness to turn over power after losing the parliamentary election last year. Simply winning, though, is not enough in the Georgian political tradition, he said. “In the post-Soviet space, when you lose, you lose everything,” he said. “There is this mentality of winner takes all.” <NYT_AUTHOR_ID> <p>Olesya Vartanyan contributed reporting from Tbilisi, Georgia, and Andrew E. Kramer from Moscow. |