A dozen senior officials and allies of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili have been arrested and charged with abuse of power since power shifted after the October parliamentary election, but Saakashvili says he is not afraid.
“I am never afraid,” he laughs, when asked whether criminal prosecutions in his nation of 4.5 million people, which he has turned into a friend of the West and a flagship of good governance, economic progress and judicial fairness in the region. However, Saakashvili has lost favor with his own people. Voters this fall elected Saakashvili’s billionaire rival Bidzina Ivanishvili’s party to parliament, and the new prime minister has formed a new government.
As a result, 12 senior Interior Ministry officials were arrested on suspicion of illegal surveillance to record conversations with the aim of discrediting Ivanishvili. The arrests and prosecutions, however, have raised international concerns in Europe and Ukraine about whether Ukraine-style selective prosecutions motivated by political revenge are starting in Georgia as well. The West has chilled its relations with Ukraine since President Viktor Yanukovych took power in 2010, quickly followed by what many regard as show trials that have imprisoned Yanukovych’s rivals, including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. Western criticism is even more heightened because Tymoshenko and Lutsenko were convicted of a vague Soviet-era type of criminal charge known as “abuse of office.”
But Saakashvili, a frequent visitor to Kyiv, believes these recent events in Georgia represent temporary setbacks. “Our government has created very high standards, so any government that follows will be held against that standard, and will have to take it into consideration,” he says. “This is why any backtracking will not be taken for granted. In the short-term there is sure to be turbulence, but in the mid- and long-term i am very optimistic,” Saakashvili said.
There are reasons for optimism in Georgia. The economy grew by 8 percent last year, up from 7 percent growth in two years prior. During Saakashvili’s almost eight years of presidency, the economy quadrupled in nominal terms, and the country jumped to the top 10 in Doing Business rankings compiled annually by the World Bank.
“We were the first country ever of the developing countries to make it to top 10. We’re number nine now, according to the list published this October,” Saakashvili said. In comparison, Ukraine jumped 15 positions this year, to 137th position in the same ranking of 180 economies.
Saakashvili said that is government’s achievements are contributing to his demise, though.
“Because people have already tasted what being an efficient, functioning political system is, what it means to live without corruption, and what it means to live without crime, and what it means to live in a safe environment. And when you have all of this, you have to get something more. And something more is you want to dramatically improve one’s conditions very fast,” he told the Kyiv Post “The Tiger Conference” on Nov. 27, where he was the keynote speaker.
“And unfortunately democracy is errors and trials, and society has to go through it itself,” he said. But in the long-term people this is precisely what gives him hope for his home Georgia. People want more improvements, not deterioration,” he said. “People will tell the new government to uphold its promises, and they were not about political persecutions.”
Georgia’s prosecutions have raised concerns among its friends in the West, including the European Union and the United States.
In a recent statement, U,S. Assistant State Secretary Philip Gordon said the ongoing persecutions in Georgia may be seen as a step back and are regrettable in the country which by many was seen as a model in the region.
“Nobody wants to see, or get the perception, that all this is about retribution against political enemies rather than the rule of law,” Gordon said. “That’s the balance that the government is going to have to strike, as it absolutely rightly seeks to hold people accountable for their actions according to Georgian law — but also seeks to avoid giving the impression internationally and domestically that it’s going to use its power to execute retribution on other political leaders.”
He also warned that they are endangering Georgia’s NATO prospects, which Saakashvili has championed during his presidency, and might damage Georgia’s relationship with the European Union, also a strategic partner for Georgia.
But Saakashvili himself says he does not lose heart, saying that the setbacks are only temporary, and Georgia – along with other inspiring nations such as Uktraine and Moldova, will eventually get to their European destination.
“It is going to happen. We just need to have patience. It takes a whole generation to get there, but we will get there,” he said. “Europe will never be full until Ukraine is part of Europe, and I believe we’re a part of this wider package.”
Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected]
