Georgia's first deputy finance minister has pledged that two
consignments of Jehovah's Witness literature seized by customs in the Black Sea
port of Poti in March and April will be released as soon as customs procedures
are complete. "I hope this will be soon," Lasha Zhvania told Forum 18
News Service from the capital Tbilisi on 7 May. He said the head of the customs
service, Aleko Aslanikashvili, who had ordered the seizure of the books, had
been dismissed the previous day, although "for other reasons".
Zhvania strenuously denied that the shipments had been seized because they had
been sent by the Jehovah's Witnesses. "Not at all," he declared.
"It is certainly not my government's policy to obstruct people receiving
religious literature of any kind." However, Manuchar Tsimintia, the
Jehovah's Witness lawyer, remains sceptical. "We have already presented
all the documentation we need to. They should already have released the
books," he told Forum 18 on 7 May.
Genadi Gudadze, the Jehovah's Witness leader in Georgia, told Forum 18 from
Tbilisi on 6 May that the two containers of literature with more than 20 tonnes
of literature were seized on 8 March and 12 April on the basis of a written
order from then customs service director Aslanikashvili.
"Although authorities are well aware that the illegal seizure of the
religious literature is a gross violation of the Georgian Constitution, of
Georgian Laws and of Georgian international commitments, they adamantly refuse
to release it," the Jehovah's Witnesses declared in a 24 April statement.
Zhvania reported that he had that morning discussed the case with the finance
minister, who was "concerned", and the minister had spoken with the
deputy head of the customs service. Zhvania explained that shipments of
humanitarian aid which can be anything from food to literature must have a
document signed by the finance minister to clear customs free of duty.
"The shipments did not have this document, so that's why they were
stopped. But we will do our best to speed things up."
Tsimintia contests Zhvania's claims. "These are fabricated reasons,"
he declared. "We don't need to present a document signed by the finance
minister each time." He said that after the Supreme Court annulled the
registration of two Jehovah's Witness organisations two years ago (Georgia does
not have a system of registering religious organisations) the court pointed out
that this did not mean that the Jehovah's Witnesses could not function. A 2001
letter from the court executors spelled this out and the Jehovah's Witnesses
clarified with the customs then that they could continue to export and import
literature.
However, Tsimintia said problems arose earlier this year with a February letter
from Aslanikashvili to all the country's customs divisions not to allow in
Jehovah's Witness literature. That same month the court executors wrote to the
customs service asking if the Jehovah's Witnesses were importing literature
legally or not. "Maybe there was pressure on them," Tsimintia
speculated. "All our problems started with these letters." The court
executors again wrote to the customs service in March withdrawing some of their
questions, declaring that the matter was the competence of the customs.
In the wake of the seizure of the shipments, the Jehovah's Witnesses filed a
legal challenge in the Vake-Saburtalo district court in Tbilisi on 17 April.
Tsimintia said the court has not yet set a date for the case to be heard.
An official of the customs service denied to Forum 18 that there is any kind of
list of banned literature. "Books cannot be confiscated," David
Gabilishvili, an inspector in the legal department, told Forum 18 from Tbilisi
on 6 May. "The law doesn't allow it." He claimed not to be familiar
with the case, but said if any books were seized it was because paperwork had
not been filed properly or because the Jehovah's Witnesses were not registered
with the tax authorities.
"The authorities claim the literature should be taxed," Levan
Ramishvili, director of the Tbilisi-based Liberty Institute, told Forum 18 on 6
May, "but of course it shouldn't as it is not for sale." He said his
institute has contacted the state minister's office, which promised to resolve
the problem, but so far there has been no resolution.
Asked whether the Jehovah's Witnesses were allowed to import religious
literature into Georgia, Gabilishvili declared: "It is not banned under
the law, so they can. There should not be any problems if it is done
properly." He insisted that they would only have problems if they tried to
do so illegally.
This is not the first time that Jehovah's Witness book shipments have been held
in customs. Two years ago, a similar seizure of religious literature resulted
in two court cases. After finally releasing the shipments, a court ordered the
state on 26 February 2001 to pay compensation for having "seriously
violated" the "religious freedom" of Jehovah's Witnesses
"guaranteed by article 19 of the Constitution of Georgia and article 9 of
the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms."
A few weeks after that decision, the authorities seized a further Jehovah's
Witness literature shipment but released it after another lawsuit was filed and
before the trial was held.