Human Rights Center Requests Resignation of Minister of Internal Affairs and Punishment of Offenders

Human Rights Center is alarmed by the punitive and repressive acts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). The intimidations of political opponents, persecutions, imprisonments and physical retributions have taken unimaginable scale lately.

On May 26th the raid of the protest rally of Public Assembly undertaken by the units of Special Forces represented not only the use of excessive force but an apparent and deliberate law violation.According to the data of NGOs, at least 5 citizens have died.

Different kinds of information have been disseminated on the victims. The MIA assures that one of the participants of the protest rally, , 50-year old Nodar Tskhadadze and apoliceman Vladimir Masurashvili were killed by the escort of the opposition leaders. The official website of MIA notifies about discovering bodies of two men on the roof of the store near the Freedom Square metro station. MIA assures that the cause of their death was coming in contact with the electric wires. However, the media outlets disseminate information that the photo material shows Nika Kvintradze lies on the ground alive and his hands are tied Thus, there is a doubt that Nika Kvintradze’s body was taken to the roof of the store by the law-enforcement officials to cover up their crime. According to the NGO “Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights,” Nika Kvintradze’s father died on May 29th as a result of heart attack when he heard about his son’s death.

Though the protest rally was unauthorized starting from 00:00 am of May 26th and some of the demonstrators were preparing to oppose the police, the monitoring of Human Rights Center revealed that the special police units used excessive force and in some cases deliberately violated the law.

Particularly, the police made a siege around the demonstrators. The Special Forces occupied all streets which could be used for escape. They chased the fleeing people to the movie theatre Rustaveli where the Pirates of Caribbean premiered at. The members of Special Forces searched for the protest rally participants in the hall of the theatre, detained them and took them out.

Thus, the goal of the operation was not the dispersal of the protest rally or the coercion of demonstrators to leave the territory but the strongest possible physical retribution. The number of the members of the Special Forces largely exceeded the number of the protest rally participants and they actively used this advantage. There are scenes showing ten members of Special Forces beating one demonstrator.

The concerted actions of Special Forces make us think that the instruction on the brutal physical vengeance was given by the leadership of MIA. A little earlier before the raid,, tens of municipal yellow buses and police special equipments were mobilized in Ortachala.   Fire-engines, Hi Lux pickups and police cobras were also prepared. Such universal mobilization could have taken place only by the order of the Minister himself.

Human Rights Center considers that the Minister of Internal Affairs should be held accountable for the inhuman and brutal acts of police forces. Also, it should be ascertained why the MIA uses municipal buses during such raid and what role the mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava plays in this.

It is hard to assess the video footages disseminated by different independent media outlets without emotions, particularly the ones showing how the elders,teenagers, women, journalists  and tied demonstrators are brutally beaten by the Special Forces.

According to the Human Rights Center, 17 journalists were injured as a result of the protest rally. The Special Forces made a siege around the correspondents and beat them by clubs. Some were inflicted with numerous bodily injuries by rubber bullets. Several journalists were detained.

Following journalists suffered: the correspondents of information agency interpressnews Darejan Paatashvili and Malkhaz Chkadua, operator of Palitra TV Avtandil Surmava, the correspondents of information agency expressnews: Ana Gabunia and Tengo Okujava, the journalists of information agency Pirveli: Telara Gelandia and Khatuna Gagnidze, journalists of newspaper Rezonansi (Resonance) Zaira Mikatadze, the journalists of newspaper Asaval-Dasavali: Beka Sivsivadze and Giorgi Mamatsashvili, the journalists of Netgazeti: Tamaz Kupreishvili, Nino Kakhishvili and Nestan Tsetskhladze, journalist of the newspaper Guria news Nato Gogelia, editor of Media.Ge Davit Mchedlidze, the journalist of Media Union Obiektivi Diana Khoperia.

The fate of the disappeared raises a serious concern. Approximately 30 people have been disappeared as a result of the raid. According to the received information, many demonstrators were placed in the buses and taken to the uncertain direction.
According to the lists published by the Public Defender, by May 27-28th 162 politically active citizens had been placed in the cells of preliminary detainment. They were charged with different offences envisaged by the Criminal and Administrative Codes of Georgia.

The citizens address the NGOs with the request of legal assistance as they are summoned to the police due to different motives.

It should be noted that on November 7th of 2007 and May 6th and June 15th of 2009 the police forces used the weapons and rubber bullets prohibited at that time. The protest rally participants were wounded as a result. However, nobody was held responsible for the usage of illegal weapons. Georgian Parliament legalized the rubber bullets on the third day after the raid of the action on June 17th of 2009 by the initiative of Parliamentary majority that encouraged the future violence. On May 26th the Special Forces deliberately directed rubber bullets to the faces of citizens. The tear gas was also directed to the faces of demonstrators.

Human Rights Center addresses Georgian government and requests:

1) To stop the political repressions and release citizens detained illegally;
2) Resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili;
3) To launch impartial investigation into the illegal actions of Special Forces by the law-enforcement bodies and the Parliament;
4) To Punish the offender

Human Rights Center
30.05.11