Public Defender Levan Ioseliani Calls on Gov't to Refrain from Speaking on Alleged Victims of Shalva Ramishvili
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, March 31, 2023
Public Defender Levan Ioseliani called on Georgian government representatives to refrain from talking about the alleged female victims in advance.
As Ioseliani mentioned, the relevant department is working on cases of alleged sexual violence.
"Regarding alleged victims of sexual violence and cases of harassment, the relevant department of the Public Defender is working intensively on this. We have published a statement on this and in the appropriate period we will provide you with what will be revealed, what will be established, what evidence will be provided to us. We are investigating all the information received by the Public Defender's office and we will provide you with the information," said Ioseliani.
When asked whether he sees the guilt of Shalva Ramishvili, the head of 'PosTV' who was accused of sexual misconduct by several women who government representatives referred to as bribed, the public defender noted that it is not in their competence to find Ramishvili guilty.
"We will not work on the issue of guilt, we are investigating the issue of possible harassment, the issue of guilt is the competence of other agencies. As for the statement of the government officials, I call on them to refrain from talking about the alleged female victims in advance, not to disclose the information to the public in advance. Their testimony and statements lead to some type of mistrust, such statements create the risk and possibility that other alleged victims will refrain from publishing such statements." Ioseliani stated.
