Public Defender of Georgia, Ucha Nanuashvili called on the
Georgian authorities on 28 January to investigate the cases of illegal
surveillance. The Ombudsman assessed the fact of destroying part of the secret
tapes containing information about private lives of citizens by the Interior
Ministry on 5 September 2013 as a "positive fact".
"In 2013 the
Interior Ministry declared that as a result of illegal surveillance thousands
of video and photo materials, including the ones containing information about
private lives of the citizens were compiled. A commission was set up to work on
the issues of illegal eavesdropping and surveillance. The Public Defender of
Georgia was also invited as a member of the commission. The Ombudsman believes
that the tapes should not be destroyed in the way that it hinders the interests
of the investigation. A one-off action of destroying materials containing
illegally obtained information about persons' private lives cannot ensure firm
legal guarantees of inviolability of personal space. It is necessary that the
facts of violation of human rights be effectively investigated and the relevant
persons be held accountable. The recognition of such violations, revealing of
the persons responsible for the violations and holding them accountable will
become a basis for preventing such violations. Not investigating similar crimes
and leaving the persons responsible without holding them accountable will
result in strengthening of the syndrome of impunity, which has been one of the
main challenges in terms of human rights," the Ombudsman said.
The Public Defender
stressed that it is important to take into account the opinion of EU's Special
Representative for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg. "According to him, it
is important to launch an investigation on the materials depicting human
torture and the persons participating in the crime should be held accountable,"
Nanuashvili said.
The commission working
on secret surveillance materials will hold its meeting on Wednesday.
