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Ombudsman of Georgia Condemns the Fact of Pressure on Journalists

February 24, 2006

Ombudsman of Georgia Condemns the Fact of Pressure on Journalists

Residents of Marneuli District village Damia-Gerarkhi expressed their protest towards the process of distribution of land plots by blocking the central highway. After numerous verbal requests, the police managed to unblock the highway only with the use of force. During the confrontation between the population and the Police several persons on both sides were injured. 15 local residents were detained on charges of organizing massive disorder and disobedience to the government.

The incident was covered by two Azerbaijani TV Companies –Leader TV and ANS TV. Later, according to the Azeri journalists, armed employees of the Police dressed in civilian clothes seized their recorded video tapes and physically and verbally abused them.

Representatives of the Office of Ombudsman of Georgia studied the incident on-site and received explanations from injured Azeri journalists Rasil Demirchalov and Aimaz Kalayev.

Representatives of the Office of Ombudsman of Georgia met with Head of Marneuli Police Soso Meskhi, District Gamgebeli (head of local administration) Merab Shubitidze, Head of Eastern Georgia Security Service Gocha Janjghava and First Secretary of Azerbaijani Embassy in Georgia Elkhan Polukhov. Representatives of the law enforcement agencies deny the facts of confiscating the video tapes and exercising pressure on the journalists.

Employees of the Ombudsman’s Office also visited all detainees and studied the detention protocols.

Ombudsman of Georgia states, that the Police had a legitimate right to use force to unblock the central highway. However, such violence against representatives of Media is unacceptable. The Public Defender requests to launch investigation of the fact of restriction of freedom of speech and expression and to return the tapes to the journalists.

Freedom of speech and expression is a cornerstone of human rights and freedom and violation of this freedom is unacceptable for the principles of democratic state.

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