Three opposition members summoned for questioning regarding June 20-21 riots
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, July 5
Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has addressed the court for the mediation in questioning three members of the opposition – Ex-Mayor Gigi Ugulava, the member of the United National Movement (UNM) Giorgi Baramidze and ex-Defense Minister and founder, who recently founded opposition party Victorious Georgia.
MIA questioning referred to June 20-21 developments when Russian MPs arrived in Tbilisi to participate in the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) session chaired by Gavrilov.
During the session, Russian MP Sergey Gavrilov addressed the IAO participants from the chair of the Georgian Parliament Speaker, which angered Georgian opposition MPs and protesters outside the building.
One of the groups tried to enter the parliament, which escalated the situation between the demonstrators and the police. Around 240 people were injured while up to 300 were arrested. Later, a decision was taken to wrap up the session and for the Russian delegation to leave the country.
One of the leaders of the UNM, Nika Melia has already been charged for “organizing, leading and participating in group violence” on June 20-21, 2019 in Tbilisi protests rallies, was released by Tbilisi City Court with GEL 30,000 bail on June 27.
The Court of Appeal ordered an electric wristband for him as he was sentenced to home imprisonment and cannot leave without the consent of the Prosecutor’s Office.
MIA says they addressed the Court because Okruashvili, Baramidze, and Ugulava refused to appear in the ministry for questioning.
“Ugulava, Baramidze, and Okruashvili refused to come to the MIA for interrogation. Because of this, MIA appealed to the court to interrogate them with the participation of a magister judge,’ said the Interior Ministry.
Ugulava says he will go to the interrogation with the participation of the magister judge.
“It is good that we will be interrogated in front of the magister judge because the MIA says they did not disperse the rally but repulsed the unrest…I do not trust the current investigation, so I am going to tell the judge in detail about the dispersal so that the truth is revealed,” he said.
UNM member Baramidze also agreed to go to the questioning in the court. He does not exclude that there will be “launched the same scenario around him as it happened to Nika Melia.”
“I am going to that questioning. As for the expectation, anything is expected from this regime. They have been trying to destroy our party for 7 years. Some of our members have been imprisoned, and some have been expelled from the country and so on. Nothing will surprise me anymore, “Baramidze said.
As for Okruashvili, he is abroad and says if it is urgent, he can answer all the questions distantly.
Georgian Dream (GD) MP Sopo Kiladze says that everyone is equal before the law.
“We have legislation, and we also have law enforcement agencies. We saw that the parliament was attacked and the opposition leaders took part in it. Consequently, law enforcement agencies are obliged to react to the incident,” she said.
Some political experts believe that Ugulava, Baramidze, and Okruashvili will share the same fate as Nika Melia.
Analyst Vakhtang Dzabiradze says it was known to everyone that Melia called on the protesters to break into the parliament during the rallies. However, he cannot understand why three other opposition members were summoned. “The main thing is that the investigation should be trustworthy…It is possible that three opposition members will also get electric wristbands, but what does this change? Let us see how the case develops. I do not expect dramatic developments,” he said.
