Leading NGOs hold rally to protest illegal surveillance
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Monday, March 21
Different leading Non-governmental Organizations (NGO) held a rally demanding the assurance of human rights on March 19.
The NGOs which held the rally were involved in This Affects You campaign. They were joined by representatives of different political parties and ordinary citizens.
The rally was held against the spread videos of politicians and politically active people’s private videos. Protesters demanded an urgent investigation of the case and tightening the existing laws in this regard.
The Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia, Eka Lomjaria, slammed the distribution of secretly recorded video material depicting private lives and demanded an efficient investigation with the participation of international experts.
“The government must do everything to stop this disgusting invasion of privacy. Those who recorded and later spread the videos must be severely punished,” stated Lomjaria.
The Head of the Transparency International Georgia, Eka Gigauri, said that people must realize that someone’s private life is private and is not the business of other people.
“They may do it to any of us. They may record details of our private life and try to terrorise us, but if the society will be loyal, their actions will have no sense and they will have to stop doing those amoral things,” stressed Gigauri.
Journalist Inga Grigolia said that she will not stop fighting.
“Those private videos concerned me too. However, they cannot scare me. I will never give up, and will make sure that anyone who tries to terrorise society will be jailed,” stated Grigolia.
The leader of the Free Democrats, Aleksi Petriashvili, said that every single person must be against such actions.
“I am here to protest the recording and of private lives. This is a dirty action and everyone who tries to terrorise others this way must be punished. Those who want our country to be a civilized country must join us and fight this amoral action,” stressed Petriashvili.
Rallies also were held in Gori, Telavi, Zugdidi, Batumi and Kutaisi.
