PM Bakhtadze: no questions must remain unanswered about June 20 rally dispersal

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said that “everyone who violated the law” on June 20 will be held accountable, no matter who they are. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 15 Jul 2019 - 13:51, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that no question marks must remain regarding the June 20 rally dispersal in Tbilisi, which came after groups of demonstrators tried to storm the parliament building.

We must give a legal assessment of the incidents where possible abuses of power took place,” Bakhtadze said.

He stated that there are no question marks whether the use of force was legitimate.

It was legitimate, and our foreign partners share this attitude. Police had to use force. Unfortunately, the dispersal left some injured and if several law enforcers used excessive force, the investigation will reveal this,” Bakhtadze stated.

People on Rustaveli Avenue, a day after the rally dispersal. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

He said that “no one who violated the law” during the rally, including the opposition members “who used the justified protest of the youth for their political interests,” will be left unpunished.

Bakhtadze said that the investigation of the June 20 events is going on “very transparently,” with the involvement of Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria.

He said that the “attempts of the United National Movement to display the attack on parliament as patriotism is cruelty and anti-state.”

Rallies in Tbilisi were sparked after Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov addressed the audience from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker on June 20, during the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy forum held in Tbilisi.

People took to the streets as they were irritated to see the MP, from the occupant country, at the high tribune of parliament.

Members of the ruling party said that the protest was justified, which was later used by the United National Movement opposition to cause unrest.

Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze quit the post shortly after the incident in parliament and the Georgian Dream ruling party accepted the proportional voting system for 2020 elections.