Protest rally demands the government to restore justice

A protest rally to demand justice restoration in front of the Tbilisi parliament building was held today organized by various civic organizations and their representatives.

Former Political Prisoners were the main organizer of the rally but representatives of different political parties participated, including members of Free Georgia. Also, the head of the Lawyers Association Zaza Khatiashvili and other human rights activists were present. They called on the government to restore justice. They distributed a letter in address of the government, where it stated that Georgian citizens voted for the Georgian Dream to peacefully end the anti-democratic authoritarian regime in 2012.  

At the end of the rally, one of the organizers of the demonstration, Nana Kakabadze delivered a speech to the group of people. She said that the fight will start from today and they will use all means to start restoration of justice in Georgia. As Kakabadze mentioned, the ways to achieve the goal could be through protest rallies.  

A special statement was released during the rally that included the demands of the protesters. First and foremost, they demand the justice to be restored otherwise they are likely to demand early parliamentary elections.

During the rally, organizers set a tent where the registration process was carried out. Anyone could be registered, who was willing to demand the justice restoration.Second, the protesters demanded creation of the Defects Founding Judicial Commission.  

"We value the fact that during the past year, the government made significant steps forward on the way to justice restoration by announcing large scale amnesty and liberalizing legislation. However, we believe the movement on this road, slowed down and now it has almost stopped. People were patiently waiting for the possibility of review of the courts unfair decisions made in recent years through adoption of the law on the Commission of Justice Miscarriages and its enactment promised by you, but postponement of the commission disappointed our hopes, the protest rally organizers addressed the government in their statement.

They also demanded fair trial by judgment for the offenders. Release of the innocent and unjustly accused citizens and return of illegally seized property to the owners.

"If the authorities will have inactive and passive attitude towards the fulfillment of these demands, we will demand early parliamentary elections in order to ensure that the promise of the Georgian Dream is fulfilled by the political power who has the ability and desire to restore justice", - reads the statement.  

Photos expressing the governmental crackdowns on people in past years were also exhibited at the gathering.

An incident happened during the rally. One of the female participants lost consciousness and then she was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. According to the protesters, the woman was the mother of a prisoner who tried to hang himself in the jail a few days ago but he had been unsuccessful.