UNM Gori majoritarian candidate’s son detained for gender-based violence

Police have detained Luka Bidzinashvili, son of the Gori majoritarian candidate of the United National Movement opposition party for gender-based violence.

An official statement released by the Interior Ministry reads that Luka Bidzinashvili physically assaulted a transgender woman in Tbilisi.

The crime is punishable by up to one year in prison.

Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe reports that members of the UNM were searching for Luka Bidzinashvili yesterday in Georgia’s eastern town of Gori before he was taken to the Gldani-Nadzaladevi police station in Tbilisi for questioning.

The detainee’s father Levan Bidzinashvili told RFE/RL that on September 28 a car stopped in the centre of the village of Karbi. After finding his son Luka Bidzinashvili, police officers put him in the car and took him away. 

Levan Bidzinashvili also said that the individuals in the car were police officers, but they were not employees of the local police department.

Badri Basishvili, member of the UNM party said that the kidnapping of their candidate’s son was connected with Levan Bidzinashvili’s political activities.