Convicts attacking co-founder of Mtavari Arkhi TV Rurua placed in strict regime prison
Giorgi Rurua was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this year for illegal possession and carrying of firearms. Photo: Screenshot from the video/The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia.
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The convicts who attacked a co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua in prison on November 2 have been placed in a strict regime prison, the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia stated earlier today.
The agency once again dismissed the allegations of the United National Movement opposition party that the incident had political grounds.
Responding to the issue, MEP Anna Fotyga said in her Twitter post yesterday that she is ‘extremely shocked with the news on Giorgi Rurua being brutally attacked and beaten in prison’.
I'm extremely shocked with the news of Giorgi #Rurua being brutally attacked and beaten in prison. Georgian Government bears full responsibility for his health & safety. I call on @JosepBorrellF & @eu_eeas to raise this issue. EU diplomats should visit him & assess the situation. pic.twitter.com/m2kqfGuEgM
— Anna Fotyga - Biuro Poselskie (@AnnaFotyga_PE) November 3, 2020
Rurua was sentenced to four years in prison earlier this year for illegal possession and carrying of firearms.
The opposition says that Rurua is a political prisoner and he was convicted ‘personally by the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
It was because of Rurua the opposition parties refused to vote for constitutional changes earlier this year, per the March 8 election agreement between the ruling party and the opposition.
The opposition stated that the ruling party accepted Rurua’s release in the election talks which were mediated by the diplomatic corps which the ruling party strongly denied.
German ambassador to Georgia also said that Rurua was not mentioned in the election agreement.
Co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua was attacked by other convicts in prison yesterday.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has refused to pardon Giorgi Rurua, co-founder of TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, who was convicted of illegal possession of firearms by Tbilisi City Court on Thursday.
Twenty Georgian opposition parties released a joint statement earlier today in which they said that the recent conviction of a co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua has political grounds.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the recent conviction of the co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Giorgi Rurua, stating that if someone commits a crime, he must be held accountable, no matter whether he owns a television or is labelled as a political prisoner by the opposition.