Tbilisi, Georgia: The Georgian Police took several actions against the protest rally attendees on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi on the evening of November 29–30, 2024.
The Georgian Ombudsman has frequently clarified that citizens should use the specific, individual, and proportionate measures that the law prescribes to combat individual illegal acts; however, this does not, in any event, establish a legal foundation for the total disbandment of peaceful protests.
In addition, in the morning hours of November 30, at the time of the demonstration, there were no legal grounds for the use of special means against peaceful protesters and arresting dozens of citizens.
According to viral video recordings, law enforcers indiscriminately used special means against everyone, detained any citizen they physically approached, drove them away from the main gathering location, even in private facilities, grouped and repeatedly assaulted the detainees and deliberately attacked journalists.
Last night, peaceful demonstrators, journalists and detainees were violated by the Constitution of Georgia and the European Convention – torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.
It is worrying that in recent times, there have been facts of the widespread and repetitive behavior of citizens during protest disruptions as a practice against the convention.
It is particularly worrying about the video recordings circulating in the media, which show the forms of group violence committed by law enforcers against detainees, methods and the quality of brutality shown.
The trustees of the Public Ombudsman met with the arrested citizens last night and all day. Among them, the representative of the Public Ombudsman visited the clinic, journalist Mariam Gafrindashvili, who was injured by possible violence by special forces. According to him, he was performing his official duty at the protest rally, when an unclear subject hit his head and lost his mind.
The trustees have made visits and continue to visit the detainees at this moment, both in Tbilisi, isolators in different cities of Georgia and also in the Batumi demonstration – Adjara and Guria.
During last night and today, the trustees visited 41 persons, of which 40 persons have administrative detained status. 28 arrested pointed out the fact of misconduct by law enforcement (12 of them do not want to react); 2 additional persons reported bodily injuries, however, one could not be interviewed because he was admitted to a hospital, and the other, who was also in the clinic, did not want to make explanations; 18 persons, mainly, reported various types of injuries to the face area Eba.
Persons who were subjected to alleged inappropriate treatment mainly pointed to the physical violence carried out by law enforcers for accountability for the civil position they identified. According to some of the detainees, the physical abuse was carried out not only directly during the arrest process but also in the vehicle.
The Public Ombudsman continues to visit detainees in different cities, about which additional information is provided to the public.
The Public Defender’s hotline—14 81—is open 24 hours a day to receive notifications on cases of rights violation.
