Aside from human rights violations in law enforcement and the judicial process, the report found that there is a trend of increased self censorship in the media. In particular, a dispute in November between the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church and students at a seminary was mentioned. The incident was initially widely covered by the Georgian media. However, after the president publicly called for the media to be ‘more responsible’ in its reporting of the incident, the coverage dramatically dropped off. There were complaints of indirect pressure against the media; mass media companies complained that if they covered the government in an unfriendly manner, advertisers pulled their ads, citing government pressure.

While the report gave the Georgian government credit for changes made over the year to combat corruption, there were criticisms that the fight against corruption often ignored human rights. There were also charges against security forces using brute force to break up peaceful meetings and arrests that did not follow proper due process. According to NGOs, approximately 80% of arrestees are charged with drug or illegal weapon possession. The report mentions that it is common practice to plant drugs and other incriminating material on a suspect during the pre-trial detention. It also made special mention of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s policy of allowing those accused of corruption to ‘buy’ their freedom by paying a ‘fine’ which went to the state budget. “The Government, in effect, used pretrial detention as a bargaining tactic to induce payment…Government officials, including President Saakashvili, also made public comments that gave the impression they supported police brutality and increased the atmosphere of impunity among police officers. Saakashvili and other government officials later held several press conferences to publicly condemn police brutality.”

Police brutality remains a problem. According to Georgian NGOs, including the Liberty Institute and Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights, police currently use pre-trial detention to beat suspects for information that can be used during their trial. At least two men died while under arrest in 2004. The report states that some structures have been put into place to document injuries received during the pre-trial detention, but not enough is being done to punish officers who beat, torture or kill suspects. “During the year, 179 criminal cases against Ministry of Interior employees were opened by the Prosecutor General\'s Office. All of these cases were pending at year’s end. Many observers claimed that prosecutors were frequently reluctant to open a criminal case against police or they closed a case for lack of evidence. Human rights NGOs also believed that many instances of abuse went unreported by victims due to fear of reprisals or lack of confidence in the system.”

According to the report, the judicial branch is weak and subject to pressure from both the executive branch and the prosecuting attorney. The report noted that although the constitution guarantees a free and public trial, where it is stated that the accused is innocent until proven guilty, that is not the usual practice. Judges over the past year have been arrested for corruption; in October two judges were arrested for accepting bribes. In February, President Saakashvili named Kote Kublashvili to head the Supreme Court, in an effort, according to the president, to bring in an outsider to make changes.

In the report, the writers also observed that reforms and oversight that is present in the capital is often lacking in the regions outside of Tbilisi.

In the prologue of the human rights report, the authors state that in 2004, despite some improvements, serious problems remain. A recent incident in the southern town of Akhaltsikhe illustrates their concerns. Merab Beridze, the rector of the Tbilisi State University local branch, was arrested on February 16 on charges of corruption. Twelve of the hundreds of students who protested in his defense were arrested on February 18, and one claimed the police beat him while in custody. Police denied allegations of brutality. Georgian NGOs, including the Young Lawyers Association, claimed that the judge involved in the case was being controlled by high ranking government officials, although no one official was ever named. Beridze was eventually released, as were the twelve students, and the charges were dropped. However, no official investigation has been reported to look into the charges leveled against the judge in the case or the allegations of police brutality, despite media reporting that Georgia\'s Public Defender Sozar Subari and his deputy went to Akhaltsikhe to look into the matter.