Georgia: NGOs urge MIA to liquidate archive with secret surveillance records

On July 5, several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) of Georgia appealed to the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) urging to destroy the archive containing materials about citizens' privacy.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a special commission was set up to monitor the destruction of the archive with materials of secret surveillance found at the MIA of Georgia. Initially it decided to destroy the first portion on June 23, but then the action was postponed indefinitely, because the commission found it necessary to acquaint the diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia with the materials.

In their appeal to the MIA, the NGOs call to destroy only the video footage related to citizens' privacy, not all the records found in the archive. "On the contrary, the videos that show torture, inhuman treatment, rape or other such facts should not be destroyed at least until the start of judicial review," says the application.

It was signed by seven NGOs: "Association of Young Lawyers", "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy", "Transparency International-Georgia", "Georgia's Democratic Initiative", "Centre to Study and Monitor Human Rights", "Article 42 of the Constitution" and "Human Rights Centre".

The MIA still intends to destroy the archive; and now it is necessary to wait for the next sitting of the above commission, Lasha Tugushi, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Resonanci" and a member of the commission, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.