Georgia: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia shed light on the new Georgian Law and responded to information published by one of the media outlets regarding its violation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
To inform the public, the Foreign Affairs Ministry would like to clarify that the information presented by the TV channel mentioned in the story, as if the Ministry has violated the “Police” law while simultaneously using water wells and tear gas, is a lie and an attempt to deliberately mislead citizens.
Georgian Law “About Police” clearly determines the rules for the use of special equipment by police; according to Article 33, “the use of tear gas is permissible to prevent an attack on a person, a policeman and/or a protected object, to prevent mass and group violation of the Orthodox Order.” In contrast, a “waterproof” vehicle is used in mass Orthodox investigation of the violation of V, a group attack on a state and/or public object take a mess of it. The situation determines the face and intensity of the special equipment used by the police according to the Law.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia emphasized that neither the Georgian “Police” law nor any current legal act based on it prohibits the use of water wells and tear gas simultaneously or in parallel.
Furthermore, the recommendations of authoritative international organizations such as Euto/Odir (OSCE/ODIHR) and Amnesty International (Amnesty International) manual documents do not consider such a ban.
According to Amnesty International’s guideline, mixing marker paint and/or chemicals is allowed in a water vessel, and according to Euto/Odir Guideline, adding tear gas to a water vessel and using it against violent persons. According to the same document, the sole purpose of using tear gas should be to dismantle gatherings and should not be used in places where people are unable to leave.
Once again, the Ministry of Internal Affairs uses unique means to manage violent gatherings and demonstrations. These means comply with European standards and are actively used by police units in several European countries.
The spread of false information aims to mislead society and deliberately discredit the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
