Abkhazia Still Leaderless

Wednesday, 3 November, 2004

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Inal Khashig

Moscow has stepped directly into Abkhazia’s chaotic presidential contest after the republic’s supreme court issued two contradictory rulings, first in favour of one candidate and then – buckling under pressure – for the other.

Opposition candidate Sergei Bagapsh, who is claiming victory in the October 3 vote, and his pro-government rival Raul Khajimba, who wants a rerun of the election, returned from Moscow on November 3 after what were widely reported to be meetings with Russian officials attempting to mediate an end to the crisis.

Neither man would give any details of the visit.

This latest and most explosive round in Abkhazia’s post-election troubles, a full month after the vote took place, began after the republic’s supreme court attempted to rule in the bitter dispute between the two candidates.

The supreme court had been deliberating for 10 days on a demand by Khajimba to declare the official election results illegal. He claims that Bagapsh’s apparent victory was due to fraud.

On October 28, the court ruled that Bagapsh was indeed the winner – but only hours later it changed its stance, announcing that the results were invalid and new elections would be necessary.

But a haggard-looking Georgy Akaba, who heads the supreme court, appeared at a hurriedly-called press conference early the following day to announce that the second decision had only been taken under direct threats from Khajimba supporters, and was therefore not valid.

“The only legal decision is the one announced at the start of Thursday [October 28],” he said. “In accordance with this, the supreme court made no change to the central electoral committee’s decision of October 11, in which the winner of the presidential elections was announced as Sergei Bagapsh.”

The international community has not recognised the election in Abkhazia, whose claim to independence from Georgia is not accepted, but it has been closely following developments there.

The strange volte face by the judges took place amid dramatic scenes at the supreme court building.

As the court panel, consisting of Akaba, Aleksei Lasuria and Viktor Ivanchenko, prepared to issue their verdict on the afternoon of October 28, up to 500 Khajimba supporters waited outside in a tense atmosphere.

Amid emotional calls for direct action, some in the crowd tried to break through police barriers. Journalists were ordered not to film, and were briefly forced to switch off their cameras.

That evening, Ivanchenko was taken away in an ambulance after he complained of chest pains.

Half an hour later, someone from inside the court phoned to say that an Bagapsh had been confirmed as winner. Now the crowd broke through a police cordon, entered the building and burst into the court building, effectively taking everyone inside hostage.

Khajimba had earlier told reporters that “lawlessness prevails”, since neither the supreme court nor the election commission were independent.

“We will find ways of influencing the court,” he said when asked what his plans were.

Now his supporters took full control of the courthouse.

“For six hours they allowed no one out. They insulted us with curses and also assaulted us physically,” said Akaba said. “In that situation, I did not want to endanger people’s lives, including that of Aleksei Lasuria, who is a veteran of the Great Patriotic War [Second World War].

“Right there in the courtroom, under overt pressure from Khajimba’s supporters, I was forced to sign and announce a new decision.”

No prosecutor was in the room when this happened, nor were any lawyers present. “We were locked in a separate room and we could only guess at what was going on,” said Ivan Zarandia, a lawyer for Bagapsh.

Prosecutor Mimoza Tsushba was in another room. Fearing that they had lost control of the situation, police hid her from Khajimba’s allies under heaps of paper.

Only at five the next morning were the court members freed. By then, a new decision had been made – this time in favour of Khajimba - but it was witnessed only by judge Akaba, Lasuria, and some Russian journalists and Khajimba supporters.

The takeover of the court building left virtually all its doors broken in and items of furniture smashed. All the original electoral documents submitted by the constituency commissions, plus the materials from the 10-day hearings were stolen from Akaba’s personal safe.

The prosecutor general’s office began criminal proceedings over the attack, while Abkhazia’s security council invited the two candidates for discussions.

Bagapsh said later that he told council member he would not contemplate a rerun of the election, and that they agreed with him. There was no information about what was discussed when Khajimba met the security council.

Outgoing president Vladislav Ardzinba, who has strongly backed his protégé Khajimba, tried to issue a decree initiating a repeat election, but this has so far been ignored.

The crisis has virtually paralysed Abkhazia’s governing institutions. The parliament building is surrounded by Khajimba supporters, who are not letting deputies go in to work. They say they fear that parliament will try to impeach Ardzinba – a claim denied by deputies.

A separate battle has been going on over Abkhazia’s television station, the main source of information for most of the republic.

On October 29, Bagapsh supporters took over the station, setting in motion a dramatic struggle for control of the airwaves.

The same day, bodyguards of Ardzinba took down the main TV transmitter, taking the station off the air. Transmissions were restored the same evening, but the station was again blacked out early next morning when the electricity sub-station supplying the television station was blown up.

Eventually the television station was allowed to continue broadcasting after a fragile deal was made. But no such compromise has been forthcoming in the bigger political conflict.

Inal Khashig is co-editor of IWPR’s Caucasus newspaper Panorama in Abkhazia.