Public Defender visits individuals detained during protests against Gov’t’s decision to suspend EU accession talks

Levan Ioseliani, the Public Defender of Georgia, on Saturday visited individuals detained during protests outside the Parliament building in central Tbilisi against the Government’s recent decision to suspend the country’s EU accession talks until 2028.

Ioseliani noted around two out of 15 detained persons claimed they were “under terrible physical pressure upon arrest”.

They [the detained protesters] received visible injuries mainly on the face, although some of them say, they have other parts of their bodies injured as well. The face of one of the detainees is covered with bloody bruises”, Ioseliani noted.

What I saw is cruelty that has no justification. I once again call on the police not to exceed their authority during arrests. The law primarily must be observed by law enforcement, and perpetrators must be treated [appropriately] under the law. Everyone must be held liable, everyone who executes arrests, everyone who conducts police operations, and then everyone who investigates the conditions of detention”, he stressed.

Ioseliani urged the country’s Special Investigation Service “to effectively investigate each case”, adding the “delay of investigating such cases has led to more and more people becoming victims of violence at protest rallies every year”. 

Any case which remains uninvestigated and to which the state does not respond timely and adequately increases the possibility of their recurrence. Therefore, this process must be stopped”, he pointed out.

The Public Defender vowed “to make all information public” and “send all the materials they have” to the Investigation Service, adding “we will also monitor the investigation process”.

According to the Interior Ministry’s latest report, police officers arrested 107 individuals, while 42 law enforcement officers were “seriously injured as a result of violent actions by protest participants” and were taken to medical facilities with “various injuries, including burns and fractures”.