TBILISI, DFWatch–International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) says people are still being fired for political reasons in Georgia and calls on the government to prevent it.

The call comes after the dismissal of several employees of the local government in Sagarejo, a town in Kakheti in eastern Georgia.

Head of Sagarejo municipality Giorgi Loladze ordered the dismissal of 30 employees on March 29, 2013. The reason was given as ‘reorganization’.

On the official web site of Sagarejo municipality, Sagarejo.ge, there is no information about reorganization or vacancies. ISFED found out that the dismissed employees have been replaced by new people.

The employees who were fired claim that the reason for their dismissal was their political views.

ISFED has requested information about these cases from Sagarejo, but has not received any answer yet.

Data recently published by ISFED shows that 1 790 government employees were fired during the five months period from election day 1 October, 2012 to 28 February, 2013.

ISFED says it is an unjustified practice to fire someone for political reasons and calls on the government to prevent its employees from doing this.