Levan Ioseliani, the Public Defender of Georgia, on Wednesday visited individuals arrested during protests between Monday and Tuesday against the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence outside the Parliament in the country’s capital Tbilisi.
In his comments, Ioseliani said he had visited 18 protesters, including politicians from domestic opposition parties, at the Tbilisi Police Department, with several individuals - including Irakli Kupradze, member of the Lelo opposition party - notifying the Ombudsperson they had received physical injuries during the arrests.
Ioseliani also visited other detained individuals at the Zahesi Detention Centre, with two out of the six indicating physical injuries and one transferred to a clinic.
The Public Defender said reports on the alleged violations committed by police officers would be sent to the country’s Special Investigation Service, and noted representatives of his office had spent the night outside pretrial detention facilities.
The protest comes against the legislative initiative which calls for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
The legislative piece has been reintroduced by the ruling party after its original version was retracted last year following public protests.