At today’s session, the Interim Fact-Finding Commission of the Parliament, tasked with examining the activities of the regime operating from 2003 to 2012, as well as of former and current political office holders and party officials since 2003, discussed a single agenda item.

Poet Makvala Gonashvili, who was elected Chair of the Georgian Writers’ Union in 2004, spoke about developments surrounding the Union following the “Rose Revolution”.

According to her, after the “Rose Revolution”, the Georgian authorities exerted pressure on the Writers’ Union. Specifically, changes introduced into legislation altered the Union’s status, restricting its rights. As a result, the Union’s members were deprived of their salaries, the Union lost ownership of its historic building at 11 Machabeli Street, and a polyclinic owned by the Union was also sold.

Makvala Gonashvili stated that the primary target of the authorities was the Union’s historic building. She explained that after the Union received a letter demanding it vacate the premises, they filed a lawsuit to halt the process.

Despite the case being accepted for consideration by the court, Gonashvili noted that on 21 August 2007, at 4 a.m., in violation of the law, representatives of law enforcement agencies forcibly entered the building and began clearing it out, throwing property out of the windows. According to her, after the premises were seized, a new Writers’ House was established there, and the original Writers’ Union was only allowed to hold occasional events within the historic building.

In Makvala Gonashvili’s assessment, the actions taken by the political force that came to power after the “Rose Revolution” served three main purposes: altering public consciousness to create a new citizen, accumulating property, and sowing fear within society.

Following the public hearing, the Commission proceeded to discuss several additional matters in a closed working session.