High Ranking Officials of Law Enforcement Bodies Took Part in Dispersal

Irakli Managadze

As  was expected, the government could not control themselves for long and on the night of April 11 they dispersed the demonstrators in front of the parliament building. According to information of the Human Rights Center law officers took part in the dispersal.

Soon after the incident first assessments were made and most of them claimed that governmental officials had ordered the demonstration to disperse. Representatives of the Community Defender showed a video recording of the incident to prove those claims. In the video recording people can see the cars of Vasil Sanodze (former official of the Ministry of Interior) and Giorgi Gegechkori, head of Tbilisi Patrol Police Department.

The state numbers of the cars on the video recording are: SPD 707, TIA 151, MIA 010.

Nana Kakabadze, representative of the Community Defender, stated that Vasil Sanodze was sitting in one car and Giorgi Gegechkori was in another. The video recordings were made close to the Philharmonic after the destruction of the stage of the demonstrators and of the media-center.

The problems started after the arrival of the cleaners who decided to clean the area at night. Nobody knows exactly what happened, though soon the disagreement started. As a result of the incident the media-center, loud speakers and stage were destroyed. Lasha Chkhartishvili, a member of the Conservative Party, stated that Davit Kodua, brother of Erekle Kodua, the head of the Special Operative Department, was standing nearby during the incident.

During the dispersal the demonstration was not going on. Only several people were in front of the parliament building. Three of them were injured. Several security cameras recorded the incident. Public Defender Sozar Subari stated that despite their request the Ministry of Interior refused them to show the recording since it is technically impossible to watch the cassette so soon.

Eka Zghuladze, Deputy Minister of Interior, commented on the dispersal and stated that the incident finished quickly and it did not require the involvement of patrol police. She said the ministry will study and investigate the video recording.

One more detail that is very important is that not a single law enforcer arrive at the scene. They did not examine what was broken and what was robbed.

Supposedly, Gigi Ugulava, Mayor of Tbilisi and deputy minister of interior, watched the video recording together. The Mayor stated that among the cleaners were people who were not dressed in uniforms. In order to avoid similar incident in the future, Ugulava ordered the Cleaning Service of the City Hall not to clean the area of demonstration.

 Non-governmental organization Human Rights Center is deeply concerned about the dispersal of the peaceful demonstration. Community Defender published the state numbers of the cars and the investigation should not find it difficult to determine the owners of these cars.

The Human Rights Center also requests that the complete video recordings of the incident be published.completely. The Center assesses the dispersal and violence against the demonstrators as blatant violations of democratic norms and condemns the breach of fundamental human rights that are guaranteed by  international conventions. The center calls upon the international organizations and diplomatic corps to react concerning the incidents.