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Attack on the Political Party Tavisupleba (Freedom in Georgian) Minibus

May 27, 2008

Passengers Blocked from Protest

The members of the political party Tavisupleba( Freedom) driving from Zugdidi to Tbilisi were attacked by the armed people at 3:25 a.m. on May 26.

The members of the political party Tavisupleba were heading for Tbilisi in a minibus in order to attend the oppositional protest demonstration. The party members were accompanied by two journalists, Nana Pazhava, the Human Rights Center (HRIDC) correspondent and Soso Khoperia, radio Mtsvane Talga correspondent. The journalists wanted to accompany the passengers to Abasha, as the party members had been constantly threatened. For instance, the son of Luiza Tevzadze, Tavisupleba Party member instructed by the Khoni Colony prison administration regularly called her mother from prison and asked her to give up political activity otherwise he said he would be killed in prison.

When the minibus was moving about Zugdidi to pick up the supporters from all over the city, it was followed by two cars- BMW serial number NOD 476 and Volkswagen WKW 447.

At Tbilisi- Poti main railway line the minibus dropped its speed to cross the rail track.  At this moment four people in masks attacked the minibus. Apparently, they had been ambushed somewhere nearby. They smashed the wind shield; consequently, all passengers (9 people) received some minor injuries.

Despite this, the driver managed to continue the journey. The passengers addressed the nearby resided patrol police and asked for help. The patrol car went on main road to find the criminals but returned in 3 minutes and told the victims that they were not able to catch up with those who had attacked them. The victims demanded to meet with the head of the patrol police, call video patrol and contact the journalists but none of their demands were met. Only Senaki Police came 2 hours later.

The Human Rights Center considers that this incident is a vivid example of persecution of oppositional parties and journalists. The HRIDC demands to launch criminal investigation of this case. Our organization also calls the government, media, the public defender of Georgia and NGOs to react to the above-mentioned facts.

 

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