Police detain 2 for coercion, offering bribe to district election commission head
Opposition politicians and their supporters have been holdong protest rallies at the district election commissions in Tbilisi and regions since the October 31 parliamentary elections. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Georgian police have detained two individuals for offering a bribe to the head of the Isani No. 5 district election commission (DEC) on behalf of a political political party, asking him to step down from his position and claim that the recent parliamentary elections were rigged.
The Interior Ministry has announced that on November 6, the individuals identified only as A.Kh. and A.K., both born in 1975, met with the head of Isani No. 5 district election commission Tevdore Gobejishvili and offered him $50,000 if he would demonstratively quit in front of media and speak about the election fraud.
Following Gobejishvili’s refusal the two threatened him 'with retaliation and coerced him to agree to the proposal', the interior ministry said. It also added that the day later on November 7, Gobejishvili was found dead in his apartment.
The interior ministry released a video footage of the detention:
At a news briefing yesterday, the ruling Georgian Dream party member Giorgi Khelashvili expressed his concerns for the death of Gobejishvili, 43, who had been chairing the Isani DEC since 2006.
Claiming that late Gobejishvili was threatened by the opposition United National Movement (UNM) supporters, Khelashvili urged for the investigation into the case.
Denying the allegations, UNM member Zaal Udumashvili said the detained individuals - Akaki Khuskivadze and Akaki Kobaladze - are the 'political hostages' and that the Georgian Dream should not be using 'human tragedies' their own political purposes.
Opposition politicians and their supporters have been holding protest rallies at the DECs in Tbilisi and regions since the October 31 parliamentary elections.
Expressing mistrust to the final results, they are gathering at 3 p.m. at Rustaveli Avenue today demanding the resignation of the Central Election Commission chair Tamar Zhvania and holding of repeat elections.
The United States Embassy and the European Union delegation to Georgia have released a joint statement today calling on all Georgians who plan to exercise their right to assembly on November 8 ‘to do so peacefully and with respect to COVID-19 precautions’. They also call on the Georgian authorities to assist in providing such an environment.
The State Security Service of Georgia has launched an investigation into the conspiracy intended to overthrow the state power. The investigation was launched on October 1 based on ‘operative information’ claiming that ‘certain people were planning to violently overthrow the government’ if the results of October 31 parliamentary elections would not be beneficial for them.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) reports that 11 district election commissions (DECs) have corrected results from the October 31 parliamentary elections, annulled data of three portable ballot boxes and corrected results in nine cases.
Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze says attacking the October 31 parliamentary election results is first of all in Russia’s interests and asks the public once again to think about it.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria condemns the illegal acquisition and release of audio recordings allegedly involving Georgian opposition politicians, which were published by Ukrainian media outlet Obozrevatel on November 6.
Opposition politicians and their supporters have gathered in front of the parliament of Georgia on Rustaveli Avenue, demanding repeat parliamentary elections be held. Claiming that the Central Election Commission (CEC) has falsified the results in favour of the ruling Georgian Dream party, opposition politicians are calling on the public to ‘protect their vote’.
Police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators who marched from central Rustaveli Avenue to the building of the Central Election Commission (CEC) after ruling Georgian Dream party leaders rejected opposition demands to dismiss CEC chair Tamar Zhvania and hold repeat elections.
Local non-governmental organisations Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre (EMC), Transparency International Georgia (TI) and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) call on the interior ministry not to use police forces against peaceful demonstrators. Meanwhile, opposition politicians, who refuse to take their parliamentary mandates and demand to hold repeat parliamentary elections, plan to stay at the CEC overnight.
Tbilisi City Court has sent Akaki Khuskivadze and Akaki Kobaladze to pre-trial detention for bribing and coercing the late head of Isani No.5 district Election Commission Tevdore Gobejishvili.
Akaki Khuskivadze and Akaki Kobaladze, charged with offering a bribe and coercing the late head of Isani No. 5 district election commission (DEC) Tevdore Gobejishvili have each been released on 10,000 GEL bail.