Post-Soviet Georgia struggles to find democracy

An attack on the most prominent human rights organization here has some observers wondering whether this former Soviet republic is moving any closer to democracy.

A dozen youths stormed into the offices of the Liberty Institute, an NGO funded by the US government and the Soros Foundation, and beat up several staffers earlier this month.

"This is one of the most vicious assaults on human rights defenders we have ever seen in the former Soviet Union," says Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "This attack shows that human rights defenders are at serious risk in Georgia."

Observers here are interpreting the attack last week as a broader signal from forces within the government that it plans to clamp down on dissent. Opposition parties made a strong showing in recent local elections.

Through its exposure of widespread corruption, the Liberty Institute has stoked discontent with the government of President Eduard Shevardnadze. The institute is a also a prime player in promoting an array of Western-style reforms.

"We are now witnessing a fight between entrenched corrupt interests and forces for ... establishing democracy, and the Liberty Institute is a major watchdog for this process," says Archil Gegeshidze, a senior fellow of the independent Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies. "This is a life and death struggle, a critical moment for Georgia's future. We either progress or regress."

In response to the July 10 attack, Mr. Shevardnadze said: "Such things do not happen in a normal country." He also asked authorities to investigate. And in a radio broadcast last week he struck a conciliatory note, calling for greater dialogue among political parties. "Dialogue is the only way to avoid confrontation," said Shevardnadze, adding later that "it seems that the society is not ready for normal dialogue yet." His comments came after nine political parties issued a statement after the attack that criticized the government for being at least indirectly responsible for the incident.

The incident dealt the latest blow to a still fragile network of mostly youthful, Western-oriented institutions that is Georgia's embryonic civil society. "You hit the Liberty Institute, you hit all NGOs ... the message is the same for everyone," says Mark Mullen, director of the National Democratic Institute's office in Tbilisi.

By promoting a broad spectrum of reforms – and monitoring government performance, and widespread corruption – NGOs are a critical factor in whether Georgia evolves into a genuinely democratic, pluralistic society. But in recent years there has been mounting evidence of both the government's intolerance of criticism and its reluctance to defend human rights.

Last fall, state security ministry officials, angry after programs were broadcast alleging government corruption, stormed independent TV station Rustavi-2, with which the Liberty Institute has close ties. Only after massive street protests did Shevardnadze jettison several of his closest officials.

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