BTC pipeline court case in Tbilisi, Georgia on January 20

The democratic values of Mikhail Saakashvili's Georgia will come under scrutiny next week when Georgian environment group Green Alternative brings legal proceedings against the Georgian government and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Company (BTC Co).

The court action will focus on the controversial environmental clearance granted by the Georgian government on November 30, 2002 for the construction of the BTC pipeline's Georgian section.

"We do not know why there has been such a lengthy delay in this case coming to trial," commented Manana Kochladze of Green Alternative. "However, we fully appreciate that the previous government responsible for issuing the environmental permit was uncomfortable with a truly independent court revision process. We are hopeful that those days are over now in Georgia."

Following heavy pressure from the BP led BTC Co on the former president, Edward Shevardnadze, and his Minister of the Environment, the routing of the pipeline through the highly sensitive support zone of the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park and the Tsalka region was approved in violation of Georgian environmental law. [1]

Green Alternative will point out that the routing decision also violated the statutory rights of Georgian citizens, which provide for proper access to information and meaningful participation in the decision-making process (as per article 37 of the Georgian constitution), the Aarhuus Convention and the actual Host Government Agreement signed by the Georgian government and BTC Co.

Towards the end of last year the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) separately agreed to finance the BTC pipeline, moves which have both provided USD 500 million of the USD 3.6 billion total and, more significantly, a priceless seal of western approval for the project.

Yet verifiable breaches of World Bank standards as well as international and domestic law continue to dog the pipeline. With the IFC, the EBRD and other project creditors due to sign the project credit agreement in Baku on February 3, this Georgian legal challenge to the pipeline is one of three which are currently in process. [2]

Court details:

The case will be heard in the Appeal (Regional) Court in Tbilisi by the administrative and tax issues jury on Tuesday, January 20, 2004. The hearing starts at 2pm.

Members of Tbilisi based Green Alternative can be contacted in advance:
Manana Kochladze: +995 99916647
Nino Gujaraidze: +99599902520
Ketevan Kvinkadze: +995 900654
Email: greenalt at wanex.net

Notes for editors:

1. The drinking water reserves in the Tsalka region are an alternative water source for Tbilisi. The Borjomi region of Georgia is home to the mineral water and tourism industries, the few promising sectors of the Georgian economy. Exports of Borjomi mineral water make up 10 percent of total Georgian exports.

Leaked documents from the international food conglomerate Group Danone to the Georgian Glass and Mineral Water
Company and from The Monitor Group, a leading international strategic consulting firm, illustrate that the currently approved routing of the BTC pipeline through Borjomi is already jeopardising one of Georgia's
key economic interests.

2. The two other current legal challenges are:

i) an Application which has been lodged by human rights NGOs, together with a landowner directly and adversely affected by the project, with the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Court of Justice, regarding the Host Government Agreement for the BTC pipeline.

ii) the Kurdish Human Rights Project has applied to the European Court of Human Rights for leave to bring cases on behalf of 36 named individuals whose land was expropriated for the construction of the pipeline. The applicants, who are all Turkish citizens of Kurdish descent living along the pipeline route, allege the project violates Articles 6, 8, 13 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.

Read the CEE Bankwatch Network Comprehensive BTC background information.