Police Revenges the Leaders of Youth Movement

Dachi Tsaguria, leader of the “Youth Front” was accused for parking a car in a wrong place during the demonstration on November 25. 

On November 25 the peaceful demonstration organized by the United Opposition in the area of Rike in Tbilisi center did not finish peacefully for every demonstrator. Twenty-five-year-old Dachi Tsaguria was pushed into a police car. His car was taken to an impound lot and the young man was tested on drugs. Dachi Tsaguria is grateful to the representatives of the Public Defender’s office who supported him to rescue the grave punishment. Tsaguria considers that unless those people had involved his case, the events would have had more dramatic ending.

Dachi Tsaguria: “I was at the demonstration when my friend Dima Svanidze called me and said that Irakli Kodua, the head of the Special Operative Department had arrived by an expensive car. Svanidze had legally bought that car several months ago; but the law enforcers seized it from him illegally. Shota Khizanishvili, the head of the Administrative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Bacho Akhalaia, the chairman of the Penitentiary Department and Gegechkori, the chief of the City Patrol Police Department were sitting in the car. Journalist Marika Kadagishvili came up to me; she wanted to take photos of those people in the car so we sat into my car and drove towards them. Having approached the expensive car of the high ranking official Marika got out of the car but I drove forward to find good place to turn my car back.”

Marika Kadagishvili, an independent journalist: “Having shot several pictures, I saw nearly eight policemen were coming towards me. They wanted to seize my camera. They were hitting me in the back so hard that I still have bruises all over my back. I recognized Bacho Akhalaia and Shota Khizanishvili in the car. Dachi saw they were hitting me and went towards me to help but I heard how Akhalaia cried out “Arrest that Tsaguria!” Afterwards I could not see what happened. They took only my cassette and returned my camera in such terrible conditions that it will not work again.”

Dachi Tsaguria said in his conversation with the Human Rights Center that Gegechkori ordered “Do not let that bastard Tsaguria run away; charge him for resistance, hooliganism and disobedience.” Tsaguria said that the patrol policemen immediately implemented the order.

“They arrested me and took in a strange direction. All the time they were calling some people over the phone, who were giving directions to them. As I guessed from their conversations my kidnappers did not agree with the people who gave orders to them and stated they would not do it. Finally they stopped the car in front of the Hotel “Metekhi”; another patrol car arrived and I sat in it. Then I was tested on drug addiction and of course they could not detect anything wrong on me. The Public Defender’s Office learned about my detention immediately; my friend had informed them. I am sure that the policemen did not dare to take me to another direction because the Public Defender was already informed about my situation. However, they fined me for 40 lari; my car was taken to the impound lot which I got back on the second day. The car was damaged; the right window has fallen down. I had some documents in it and they were all checked.”

It is not first fact when law enforcers harassed Dachi Tsaguria. Several days ago when Rule of Emergency was declared in Georgia, Dachi Tsaguria became a victim of armed people in the “Coffee House”. Although there were a lot of people in the café, five people beat Tsaguria severely. Besides that they wanted to drag him out of the café but the friends of the young leader resisted them. Tsaguria said that the investigator visited him only once after the criminal case was launched.

Dachi Tsaguria connects the recent incidents to the November demonstrations. “When they hang caricatures of Badri Patarkatsishvili and opposition leaders on the building of the Post Office, several provocateurs appeared and called upon the people to enter the building and pull down the caricatures. My friends and I guessed that it was a well-planned provocation and resisted the people. It was the government’s trap for us and if we were caught in it, they would have claimed afterwards that demonstrators had rushed into buildings forcibly. One of my friends who is a member of the National Movement told me that my that-time behavior caused serious concern of the government. Thus I think that the harassment on me is the result of my activities on November 7,” said Tsaguria.

Nino Eremeashvili, Spokeswoman of the Public Defender’s Office, stated that the Ombudsman studies the incident and will make official statement about it in the nearest future.

The Human Rights Center got in touch with Shota Khizanishvili. “Representatives of the TV stations also called me today. Dachi Tsaguria was not harassed at all. He was fined for having parked the car in a wrong place and as usually he was taken to be tested on drug addiction. I cannot add anything more.”

Nino Tarkhnishvili, Tbilisi