One of the four most influential political organizations in Georgia, judging by the results of the recent parliamentary elections - the Labour Party – has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court with a demand that the Prosecutor General institute criminal proceedings against President Mikheil Saakashvili. According to the chairman of the Labour Party, Shalva Natelashvili, the Labour Party accuses the head of state of criminal offenses, for which, in his opinion, Mikheil Saakashvili should be subjected to severe punishment. The General Secretary of the Labour Party, Joseph Shatberashvili, the political secretary, Giorgi Gugava, and the secretary for ideology, Kakha Dzadzamiya, answer the questions of VK.
- Why did you decide to take recourse to such a form of fight as a lawsuit, especially an appeal to the International Court of Justice?
Joseph Shatberashvili: There are two possible ways to dismiss a politician from his office: one is legal, the other one is an overthrow as a result of a revolution, insurrection or military coup. Georgia has used the last method three times. The first time was in 1921, when the Red Army overthrew the legitimate government of a democratic Georgia, the second time was at the turn of 1991-1992, when the then Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia was overthrown as a result of a military coup, and the third time was during the "Rose Revolution" of 2003 and Saakashvilis’s coming to power with a governmental coup. Our party is parliamentary. We are not “revolutionaries”, and not “deposers”, we can only act in a legal framework. We do not know how to shoot and we do not want to. So what choice is a political party left with in a country where all the institutions are usurped by Saakashvili and his team? It remains only to appeal to international institutions. So we decided to send a complaint to the International Criminal Court to institute a criminal prosecution and the arrest of Saakashvili. And I underline that we have not brought political charges against Mikheil Saakashvili, but accusations in criminal cases, starting with the coup of 2003, the defeat of the rally in Rustaveli in November 2007, prior to pulling Georgia into the war.
- To what extent is the Court at the Hague authorized to consider a lawsuit such as that against a head of state?
Giorgi Gugava: According to the Rome Statute of 2002, the basis of the International Criminal Court, it shall be entitled to consider the charges, if there are no resources or capabilities to initiate and conduct criminal proceedings on specific crimes within the country itself. Including cases of punishment of criminals convicted of crimes against humankind and against humanity. In this case, political parties or associations have the right to appeal to the Hague tribunal. The lawsuit is addressed to the prosecutor of the International Court and the prosecutor is obliged to take a concrete decision on the initiation of proceedings into a criminal case. This is stated in the seventh and eighth articles of the Rome Statute, which we used in the preparation of the claim.
- What specific charges are you pressing?
- We are talking about a few episodes. First, the crime committed in 2006, when the Special Forces of the Interior Ministry attacked the family of a local authority Eugene Aprasidze in the high mountainous Svaneti area and shot several family members during the operation (under the pretext of resistance). In November 2007, during a peaceful rally in Rustaveli, the authorities used chemical and acoustic weapons, forbidden by the international conventions. At the same time, the Special Forces ransacked the independent Imedi television station. The officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs repeatedly shot the suspects in the streets, whose guilt had not been proven in court. And President Saakashvili announced that he personally ordered the police to eliminate all those who, in their opinion, posed a threat. The authorities are targeting their political opponents. It is sufficient to recall how the prosecutors opened a criminal case against the leader of our Party, Shalva Natelashvili, on charges of collaboration with the Russian intelligence services and treason but then it was closed due to lack of evidence. In this situation the police raided the office of the party and the private apartment of our chairman, as well as his ancestral home in Dusheti. Finally, Mikheil Saakashvili is a war criminal. It was he who dragged Georgia into war in August 2008. After all, the Georgian town of Tskhinvali has residents of Ossetian nationality.
- When do you expect an answer from The Hague to your complaint? What has been the reaction of the Georgian authorities?
Kakha Dzadzamiya: The complaint will certainly be registered in the international court, and as to the initiation of the proceedings on the criminal case and of the investigations, the decision must be taken within six months. We have sent to the chief prosecutor of The Hague Court a list of crimes committed by Saakashvili and the evidence against him and pointed out the chapters of the Rome Statute under which the complaints are made. One should note an important feature: unlike the International Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, the International Criminal Court does not determine the case by exhausting all internal procedures. The Strasbourg court considers litigations between the state and the citizen, while the Hague tribunal considers war crimes, crimes against humankind and against humanity. Therefore, the International Criminal Court must intervene immediately. The Georgian authorities have not responded to our complaint yet. In any case, it is not in any way connected to politics, our claim is purely legal. And it should be considered as such.
Interview by Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively to VK
