The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has denied any arrest of the citizens of the United States of America. The US Citizen, namely Daryl Scholtz, accused the police force of a brutal attack.
The accusation by the US citizens was levelled during his interview with Georgian media. According to him, four masked policemen beaten him during one day of the ongoing rally. In contrast, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that he was never arrested by the authorities. Moreover, he neither called 112 nor was taken to the hospital.
Scholtz told a Georgian news channel that he and his friend were attacked by the police when they were present at Rustavi Avenue and were recording the videos of the rally. He further claimed that police beating had caused injuries, including a hematoma on his brain. He said that he is not feeling safe and will left for the USA after surgery on May 18, 2024. He also said that he has asked the US embassy to open an investigation into the case.
On the other hand, the statement issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this regard denies all the allegations. As per the statement, he was never beaten by police and was not taken to the hospital. “Additionally, we would like to state that the aforementioned information was disseminated falsely; even the USA embassy in Georgia asked for information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as they were also unaware of a similar incident,” added MIA statement.
It is to be mentioned explicitly that during the ongoing protest against the foreign agent law, several U.S. citizens have been arrested and/or severely beaten by the riot police. Last month, on April 30, the MIA detained Ted Jonas. He is a lawyer and is currently working for Anaklia Development Consortium LLC. He was also severely beaten by the anti-riot police as well.
Similarly, on May 13, the MIA announced the detention of 2 U.S. citizens. Among them, one, during an interview, talked about the violence he endured and his two-day detention.
