Court leaves five in pretrial detention on June 20 Tbilisi protest case

Tbilisi City Court has left Zurab Budagashvili, Tsotne Tsotniashvili, Besik Tamliani, Tsotne Soselia and Kakhaber Kupreishvili in pretrial detention for possible incitement to violence during the June 20 rally in Tbilisi.

19 protesters and 2 police officers have been charged regarding the June 20-21 rallies in central Tbilisi, opposition MP Nika Melia and former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili among them.

The Tbilisi protests, which were sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in the Georgian parliament earlier on June 20, turned into a violent clash between protesters and police in front of the parliament of Georgia.

Then Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia said in his televised interviews that the rally became “violent” starting at 10 p.m. following “a systematic and organised” attack on the parliament building on June 20.

Gakharia also said that he gave an order that the rally was dispersed after a part of the demonstrators decided to storm the parliament building.

The dispersal left 305 detained and 240 injured.