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Participant of Peaceful Demonstration Requests 30 000 GEL from the Ministry of Internal Affairs

February 10, 2017
 
Lana Giorgidze 

On February 8, Human Rights Center held a press-conference in the press-club of the Prime Time. Representatives of the organization and the victim person spoke about the appeal against the MIA, which was lodged to the Tbilisi City Court.

“The organization defends rights of Onise Chakvetadze and requests the Ministry of Internal Affairs to pay 30 000 GEL to the applicant to reimburse his material and moral damage,” executive director of Human Rights Center Aleko Tskitishvili said.

Lawyer of Onise Chakvetadze, Eka Lomidze said On May 25, 2011, a peaceful demonstration was conducted in front of the Parliament of Georgia, which was violently dispersed based on the decree of that time Minister of Interior Ivane Merabishvili, who also ordered arrest of the demonstrators.

“On May 25, 2011, when the demonstration was dispersed, Onise Chakvetadze was arrested and police officers physically and morally assaulted him. Ivane Merabishvili was convicted for the abovementioned action based on the February 27, 2014 judgment of the Tbilisi City Court and August 11, 2014 judgment of the Tbilisi Appeal Court; he was convicted under the Criminal Code of Georgia – for the abuse of professional power by political official,” said the lawyer of Human Rights Center Eka Lomidze. 

Lomidze said based on the order of Ivane Merabishvili, the law enforcement officers did not allow the demonstrators to leave the area. 
 
“During the dispersal I was standing near the metro station Liberty. My friends, my brother and MP Karlo Kopalyani were with me. During the dispersal the riot police officers used rubber truncheons against us. They broke my head and left me in front of the Youth Palace unconscious. The video-recordings of this fact are uploaded on YOUTUBE. After a while, we were put in yellow busses and people, all in blood, were lying over each other; we even could not move. After 10-15 minutes driving, a police officer started shouting “we are crashing a man” and demanded the driver to drive slower. Then I heard a crash but I do not know what happened there. I hope the Chief Prosecutor’s Office will study this information,” Onise Chakvetadze said at the press-conference.

He added that the demonstrators were taken to the police department by bus, where they were physically and psychologically intimidated.

“They were beating and insulting us. They beat Bidzina Gegidze in front of us (author: member of the Georgian Dream, majoritarian MP from Vake district, Tbilisi). We were taken to the interrogation room one by one, where they asked questions about our family members and relatives. During the interrogation they threatened us with creating problems for us and our family members,” Onise Chakvetadze said.

According to the victim, he was also threatened with killing his family member in “an accident”. “I am still taking medical treatment; I have many problems because of this fact and now cannot afford the treatment either.”

The lawyer Eka Lomidze said based on July 23, 2013 resolution of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, Onise Chakvetadze received the status of victim because of the physical and moral damage he received during the dispersal of the protest demonstration by special unit of the MIA on May 25, 2011. “Considering that, Human Rights Center requests the MIA to reimburse material and moral damage of this person.”

“When a crime is committed by senior official of the government, the state bears the responsibility for his/her actions. No matter who is guilty – Merabishvili or Kotchlamazashvil,” Aleko Tskitishvili said.

The state has already established practice of compensating the victims of physical and moral damage because the Court satisfied the lawsuit of Human Rights Center against the Ministry of Corrections and ordered the Ministry to pay 60 000 GEL to the victim of torture from the side of prison personnel as compensation. 

The lawyer appealed the Tbilisi City Court against the MIA on February 8.

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