Nikoloz Mzhavanadze Spreads Disinformation About the Past Activities of Nino Lomjaria

On April 5, Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, in the program “Sum-Up of the Day with Nikoloz Mzhavanadze” on the Sezoni TV channel, stated that while nongovernmental organizations in Georgia were “fighting against the Saakashvili regime,” Nino Lomjaria, then chairperson of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), was talking about “how good the election environment in Georgia was.”

Nikoloz Mzhavanadze spreads disinformation about Nino Lomjaria’s former activities. During the period when Nino Lomjaria was the Executive Director of ISFED, the organization published a number of critical reports about the elections.

Nino Lomjaria served as the executive director of the ISFED from 2011 to 2015. Her responsibilities included organizing election observer missions. During that period, namely, in 2012, when the United National Movement was in power, the parliamentary election was held. ISFED monitored the election and published reports. The organization published five pre-election monitoring reports criticizing the election environment and describing dozens of cases of threats and blackmail against political opponents and activists, dismissal of people for alleged political reasons, and reprisals against them.

The first ISFED interim report

The first interim report on the monitoring of the electoral environment for the 2012 parliamentary elections covered the period from April 1 to May 4. According to the report, during the reporting period, ISFED recorded 10 cases of dismissal from work for alleged political reasons, nine cases of threats, one case of dispersal of people, six cases of pressure on businessmen/private owners for political reasons, and three cases of interfering in journalistic activities.

The 2012 ISFED report listed the following cases of dismissal from work for alleged political reasons:

1. In Gurjaani, an ambulance driver who was a Georgian Dream activist did not have his labor contract renewed. After he distributed the Georgian Dream newspapers, he was questioned by the police.
2. Zviad Kviralashvili, who contributed to the establishment of the Georgian Dream in Gurjaani, was fired from his position as a deputy director of the Cleaning Services.
3. Tsisana Joiashvili, a schoolteacher in Lagodekhi, was fired from her job because of what she believed was her son’s connection to the Georgian Dream.
4. In Dedoplistskaro, an employee of the Culture and Sports Center, Akaki Natroshvili, who was also the office manager of the Georgian Dream headquarters, was forced to resign. He confirmed the pressure in his conversations with ISFED.
5. Elene Popiashvili, a teacher at a school in Dedoplistskaro, said that the school director demanded that she write a resignation letter because of her husband’s connection with the Georgian Dream.
6. The director of the kindergarten in Dedoplistskaro forced the caregiver, Nana Kokilashvili, to write a resignation letter. Kokilashvili believed that she was dismissed because of her connection with the Georgian Dream.
7. Tamar Tamazashvili, a teacher and head of the academic department at the art school in Dedoplistskaro, was dismissed from her job. She is the aunt of Aleksandre Tamazashvili, head of the Georgian Dream office, and sister of Tamaz Tamazashvili. Tamaz Tamazashvili, the former head of the Kakheti Police, was serving a sentence at that time and considered himself a political prisoner.
8. Ia Bzhalava, a teacher at Public School № 9 in Gori, was dismissed from her job. She believed that she was fired because her husband was a member of the Free Democrats party.
9. Tina Kelenjeridze, a teacher at Public School № 1 in the Dimi village of Baghdati, who joined the Georgian Dream, was forced to quit her job on the initiative of the school director. Before joining the political party, Kelenjeridze voluntarily left her position as a deputy director of the school.
10. At the staff meeting, the head of Chkhorotsku Municipality, Merab Shelia, told the chief specialist of the Agricultural Development Service, Gia Tsiramua, that he was no longer trusted by his colleagues and was considered an oppositionist to the government because his brother-in-law, Korneli Sajaia, was the head of the Chkhorotsku branch of the Georgian Dream. Also, according to Gia Tsiramua, the head of the municipality hinted that he should submit his resignation. Gia Tsiramua left his job.

The ISFED’s report also listed cases of politically motivated threats. The organization recorded nine cases during the reporting period.

1. Yuri Giorgadze, a resident of Zoti village, Chokhatauri, was threatened with the termination of social assistance if he accepted Georgian Dream’s offer to install a satellite dish or if he engaged in activities in favor of the political party.
2. An UNM activist from the Bukistsikhe village of Chokhatauri, advised the population not to attend the meeting with the Georgian Dream or they would risk facing problems.
3. Lanchkhuti municipality authorities threatened employees with dismissal from their jobs if they installed Global TV satellite dishes.
4. Georgian Dream activists in the village of Chkadua, Khobi, were questioned as suspects in a theft at a kindergarten. A police officer told one of them to leave the Georgian Dream or else she and her brother would be “taken care of.” It was eventually discovered that the kindergarten caregiver had the amount that was being investigated as missing in another handbag.
5. The head of the Georgian Dream office in Baghdati claimed that during the meetings with the population, they were followed by police officers who visited the families who attended the meetings. According to her, citizens wanted to meet with Georgian Dream representatives but refrained from doing so because of threats.
6. Pridon Kvaratskhelia, the chairperson of the Poti branch of the Georgian Dream, was contacted by phone and threatened with physical violence if he attended the planned meeting.
7. Citizens claimed that simultaneously with the opening of the Georgian Dream office in Kharagauli, bus drivers received phone calls warning them not to transport people to Kharagauli. Several bus routes were cancelled.
8. A security guard at a football stadium in Chiatura was threatened with dismissal from his job if he continued to visit the Georgian Dream office.
9. The head of educational resource center in Akhmeta and the financial manager of the same center threatened Gulchina Tsikoridze, who was distributing the Georgian Dream’s newspapers, that if she continued to distribute newspapers, she would lose her social assistance and shelter. The manager of the service center of the Kakheti Energy Distribution company tried to hit Gulchina Tsikoridze with his car; in addition, Gulchina Tsikoridze’s shelter was raided.

The report also described the dispersal of a rally in Kutaisi. On May 1, 2012, the youth wing of the Georgian Dream organized a rally outside the self-governance office in Kutaisi, where they congratulated residents of the city on the Kutaisoba holiday, holding candles in their hands. The cleaning service used water cannons against the demonstrators, resulting in damage to a vehicle.

The first ISFED interim report described two cases of interference in journalistic activities, one in Kutaisi and another in Poti. According to the report, on May 3, 2012, a journalist for Post Scriptum, Irakli Vachiberidze, disguised as an UNM activist, attended a closed meeting of UNM representatives with the party activists. According to the journalist, after being spotted, he was kicked and verbally abused by the security guard, his equipment was taken away, and all recorded materials were deleted from it. On May 2, 2012, the President’s security service and law enforcement officers insulted journalists; in particular, Post Scriptum and Akhali Arkhi journalists were not allowed to cover the President’s visit. As regards the incident in Poti, according to the report, during the President’s visit, a Tspress journalist was restricted from moving and reporting, it was demanded that she delete the footage. Then her camera was taken away, the memory chip was removed, and her belongings were thrown into the yard.

Pressure on business/private owners. ISFED documented such cases in Kaspi, Ambrolauri, Terjola, Sagarejo, Poti, and Martvili. These included cancellation of bus routes to the city on the opening day of the Georgian Dream office; refusal to rent office space to Georgian Dream due to the threat of dismissal from work; pressure on citizens because of the installation of satellite dishes and demand that they be dismantled; and refusal to rent office space to Channel Nine TV company due to its connection to Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The second ISFED interim report

ISFED’s second interim report covered the period from May 4 to June 4. During the reporting period, ISFED identified 10 cases of dismissal from work for alleged political reasons, nine cases of threats and pressure, two cases of politically motivated physical abuse, four cases of interference in journalistic activities, two cases of interference in the work of the monitoring organization, and six cases of use of administrative resources.

ISFED identified instances of politically motivated dismissals in Sighnaghi, Telavi, Chiatura, Khoni, Chkhorotsku, Samtredia, and Kutaisi. These included:

• Three cases of teachers dismissed for supporting the Georgian Dream and demanding the restoration of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s citizenship (in Sighnaghi, Kutaisi, and Samtredia).
• Dismissal of a female employee because her husband worked for Global TV company (in Telavi).
• Dismissal of an employee of the Water Supply Company for supporting the Georgian Dream (in Khoni).
• A pediatrician, who was also a member of the Republican Party, was fired from his job after he spoke about problems in the hospital and pollution in the city (in Chiatura).
• Dismissal of an agrarian market security guard, who was also a member of the Georgian Dream, at the behest of the security service (in Chkhorotsku).

The nine instances of politically motivated threats documented by the ISFED were as follows:

1. The director of a public school in the village of Bori, Kharagauli, was pressurized to dismiss a teacher because of her affiliation with the Georgian Dream.
2. In Kvareli, police officers took a man providing transportation service to the Georgian Dream to the police department and advised him to cut ties with the political party.
3. According to the citizen, at the Sagarejo Gamgeoba, he was instructed to write that during the installation of satellite dishes, the employees of Global TV were wearing Georgian Dream t-shirts and were engaged in propaganda for this political party.
4. According to a resident of Chkhorotsku, the police fined him for drunk driving, although he was sober, which was confirmed by a test. He saw political pressure behind this incident.
5. Members of the Republican Party in Zugdidi received calls warning them not to unite with the Georgian Dream and to distance themselves from political activities.
6. A mini-bus driver in Tkibuli refused to provide transportation services to the Georgian Dream after receiving a piece of “friendly advice” from a Gamgeoba employee to sever all ties with the political party.
7. In Rustavi, a person who introduced herself to the family as a representative of the United National Movement demanded that they tell her which party their civil servant daughter was going to vote for.
8. The members of the Kaspi football team, who were going to play in Georgian Dream t-shirts, were visited by district inspectors and prevented from arriving for the game on time, as a result of which the match was counted as lost by them. The police were mobilized to the stadium.
9. A police officer called participants in a meeting with the Georgian Dream held in the village of Nemodziri, Kharagauli, to tell them to leave the meeting.

In contrast to the first interim report, two cases of physical abuse were documented in the second interim report.

1. On May 20, 2012, the head of the Khobi regional office of the Georgian Dream, Mamuka Kardava, was attacked by two men and beaten with bludgeons while he was driving.
2. On May 30, 2012, the coordinator of the Georgian Dream in Telavi, Givi Otarashvili, was physically assaulted by two people in the village of Vanta.

ISFED documented cases of interference in journalistic activities in Gori, Tianeti, Martvili, and Rustavi. In one of these cases, police in Tianeti detained journalist Gela Mtivlishvili when he was filming the police building. According to the journalist, the police officers physically abused him, forcefully took away his camera, prevented him from using the toilet, and exerted psychological pressure on him. Mtivlishvili became unwell, and the police had to call an ambulance.

The ISFED report also described two cases of interference in the work of non-governmental organizations. According to the report, ISFED employees were prevented from working in the office of the Georgian Dream and during a meeting of the political party with the population.

The third and fourth ISFED interim reports

The third ISFED interim report covered the period from June 4 to July 1, 2012. It also included events that began before June 4 and continued into the reporting period. During the reporting period, ISFED identified 7 cases of dismissal from work on alleged political reasons, 17 cases of threats and pressure (including 1 case of pressure on business, seven cases of pressure on citizens, and 10 cases of pressure on party activists), four cases of politically motivated physical abuse, seven cases of the use of administrative sanctions, and five cases of vote-buying. It should be noted that all cases of politically motivated dismissal from work were related to citizens’ ties with the Georgian Dream and the TV company Maestro. The cases of threats and pressure, as well as the physical abuse described in the report, were also related to supporters of the Georgian Dream. As regards vote-buying, the ISFED report stated that on June 5, in Kutaisi, Georgian Dream representatives distributed leaflets in which, according to the distributors, the population could write their wishes and dreams for up to GEL 1,000 and receive the desired household appliances. They were arrested and sent to two months of pretrial detention. The report also described a case when a resident of Terjola, who signed a petition to restore Georgian citizenship to Bidzina Ivanishvili, had her social security benefits stopped.

ISFED’s fourth interim report covered the period from July 3 to July 31, 2012. During the reporting period, ISFED identified two cases of dismissal from work for alleged political reasons, eight cases of politically motivated threats/pressure against party activists/citizens, two cases of physical abuse, five cases of interference in political activities, five cases of interference in journalistic activities, one case of interference in the work of NGOs, and 17 cases of use of administrative resources (including 14 cases of politically motivated pressure involving civil servants). As in the previous report, most of the cases documented in the report were related to threats, blackmail, and dismissals from work of Georgian Dream supporters and representatives for alleged political reasons.

The fifth ISFED interim report

The last interim report on the 2012 elections covered the period from August 1 to 26 August. The reporting period saw an increase in the number of cases of pressure and threats against activists (10), as well as politically motivated physical abuse and violence (15). The report also described eight cases of interference in political activities; 10 cases of interference in journalistic activities; three cases of irregularities in the work of election administration; four cases of dismissals from work for alleged political reasons; four cases of interference in the work of observer organizations; five cases of administrative liability for alleged political reasons; and 31 cases of use of administrative resources.

The cases of pressure and threats against activists:

• In Zugdidi, a patrol police officer came to the coordinator of the Georgian Dream and demanded that he explain why he was in opposition; the police officer also damaged his belongings and threatened him with a weapon.
• In Sighnaghi, the deputy chairperson of the Sakrebulo “recommended” the citizen to leave the Georgian Dream, and when the citizen refused, he put him in his car and drove him to the cemetery, where the head of the regional security service was waiting for them. They beat the citizen and threatened him with arrest unless he left the Georgian Dream.
• The family of a Georgian Dream supporter from Kaspi, who lived in Belgum, was visited by the chief of Shida Kartli regional police and threatened to deprive them of their house if their son “did not come to his senses.”
• A resident of Ozurgeti, a supporter of the Georgian Dream, discovered that valuable saplings he had planted on his plot had been cut down. He believed that was a political reprisal.
• In Akhaltsikhe, Georgian Dream activists who were distributing promotional booklets for the party were approached by a man who identified himself as a police officer and demanded that they stop this activity or risk being arrested. After the underage girls started crying, the man tore up the booklets and forced them to take off their promotional t-shirts.
• In Chokhatauri, a school director threatened teachers with salary deductions for not going to a meeting with the United National Movement.
• In Dusheti, a Georgian Dream supporter was called up for military service despite having been declared unfit for military service several times in the past. According to him, the head of the medical examination for conscription told doctors to write in the medical report that he was fit for military service.
• In Lagodekhi, a woman who was collecting signatures for a petition to restore Georgian citizenship to Bidzina Ivanishvili said that after the mentioned activity, local authorities began inquiring about her and summoned her for interrogation; they also persecuted her and urged her to leave the political party.
• A taxi driver from Kobuleti was deprived of his license, as he believed, due to the fact that he drove people to Georgian Dream meetings.
• On August 8, in Lanchkhuti, a woman wearing a Georgian Dream t-shirt was not allowed to join a human chain.

The report documented the following instances of interference in political activities:

• On August 3, 2012, in Poti, when the Georgian Dream activists were distributing newspapers, a UNM activist approached them, tore up the newspapers, and threw them in their faces.
• On August 4, 2012, in Kobuleti, when the Georgian Dream activists were putting up posters informing about a planned demonstration, a representative of the Chakvi administrative unit approached them and forbade them to continue their activity.
• On August 17, in Telavi, the village head prohibited Georgian Dream activists from putting up posters in a place where pasting posters was allowed.
• On August 7, in Kazbegi, Georgian Dream promotional materials were splashed with red paint, and the number five was written over them.
• On August 5, UNM supporters blocked the road to Bidzina Ivanishvili, who arrived in Khulo to meet with the population, as Mikheil Saakashvili was there in connection with the Shuamtoba celebration.
• On August 9, in Akhaltsikhe, UNM supporters demanded that monitors, who had arrived to verify the Georgian Dream’s voter lists, leave the area; after the monitors refused, UNM supporters followed them everywhere, and all families the monitors had visited to verify the lists refused to communicate with them.
• On August 9, in Gurjaani, when a majoritarian candidate from the Georgian Dream was holding a meeting with her constituency, several women arrived at the meeting place loudly expressing their support for the UNM candidate. These women seemed to be trying to disrupt the meeting.
• On August 17, in Sagarejo, when a candidate from the Georgian Dream, Tina Khidashvili, was holding a meeting with voters, representatives of local authorities arrived and attempted to disrupt the meeting; a physical confrontation took place. The police detained only members of the Georgian Dream election headquarters.

The report also documented incidents of physical violence in Rustavi, Samtredia, Akhaltsikhe, and Kobuleti, all reflecting violence against Georgian Dream representatives and supporters.

Prior to becoming the Executive Director of ISFED, Nino Lomjaria worked at the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA). In 2008-2010, she was the coordinator of election projects, whose responsibilities included, inter alia, organizing election observation missions and managing related projects. During the period mentioned, GYLA also published reports criticizing the events of the pre-election periods.

During the rule of the United National Movement, Nino Lomjaria worked for non-governmental organizations, which in their reports documented cases of violations and abuses, threats or bribery of opponents’ supporters, and called on the authorized persons to take adequate measures against such cases. Consequently, the statement Nikoloz Mzhavanadze made on the air of Sezoni TV is disinformation.

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