Police detain four more for group violence during June 20-21 protests
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, July 17
Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has arrested four more people for participating in group violence during June 20-21 protests in central Tbilisi.
Vladimer Bortsvadze, Deputy Interior Minister released the information. According to him, within the frames of the investigation, law enforcers have detained four more persons for participating in group violence.
The MIA has released a video depicting how the detainees used rubber batons and other items to physically insult law enforcers, trying to drag away their shields and use foul language against the police.
Moreover, one of the detainees posted a video on Facebook on June 20 in which he calls upon people to break the police cordon and rush into the parliament yard.
“The investigation has established that the mentioned persons participated in the group violence during the June 20-21 developments in front of the Parliament building. They assaulted police officers using various items, resisted them and tried to storm the Parliament,” Bortsvadze said.
The Deputy Minister stressed the MIA continues an investigation into the case.
The ministry informs that a total of 9 persons, including opposition parliamentarian Nika Melia, have been charged with organizing, heading, and participating in group violence outside the Parliament building in Tbilisi on June 20-21.
In addition to this, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG) reports that one employee of the Internal Affairs Ministry has been detained on the charges of abusing power during the dispersal of June 20-21 rally.
“It was established based on the evidence obtained within the investigation into the case that the employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs abused his power on June 21 early morning at the Rustaveli Avenue and physically assaulted the person detained for committing an administrative offense,” the statement reads.
POG says they applied to the court with a motion requesting imprisonment as a preventive measure against the detainee.
June 20-21 protests were launched after the Russian MPs arrived in Tbilisi to participate in the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) session. 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, who tried to enter the parliament, which escalated the situation between the demonstrators and the police.
Around 240 people were injured during the protests 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.
