Web Portal on Human Rights in Georgia

Tianeti district police officers seized a lorry loaded with fire-food from Mevlud Shushanashvili, activist of the political coalition Georgian Dream.

“I have one-month-old grandchild at home. It is cold at night and I collected scattered fire-wood in the forest to take it home. The police stopped me and seized the lorry. They took it to police office and sealed it up. I was told they have launched investigation on the fact and I have to make a testimony. I refrain from making any statement because I do not have a lawyer and nobody knows what they will do with me,” Mevlud Shushanashvili told ICMM.

On May 15, after the meeting with the leaders of Georgian Dream in Tianeti, the local social agency stopped social benefits for the eight-member family of Shushanashvilis. Additionally, the police interrogated the head of the family Mevlud Shushanashvili; afterwards, having seen him in the local office of the Georgian Dream, police summoned his son Levan Shushanashvili too. The interrogation of the father and son lasted four days. When journalist Gela Mtivlishvili was working on the news-story about the fact, he was arbitrarily detained by local police.