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Human Rights Watch Accuses Government of Excessive Use of Force on November 7

December 20, 2007
According to the assessment of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, the Georgian government used excessive force in order to disperse the demonstration on November 7.

The events of November 7 have been filed in 102-page report named Crossing the Line: Georgia’s Violent Dispersal of Protestors and Raid on Imedi Television

The presentation of the report has been held today in hotel Courtyard Marriot. According to Jane Buchanan of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, five facts of human rights abuses have been revealed on November 7. They are: dispersal of participants of a hunger strike in front of the parliament, dispersal of the demonstration on Rustaveli Avenue and Rike, attack on Imedi TV and dispersal of civilians and journalists gathered in front of the Imedi building.

The assessment of the organization reads that in all five cases, the government used excessive force and warned demonstrators about a possible dispersal only once, that is on Rustaveli Avenue.

According to Jane Buchanan, the police followed demonstrators and beat them brutally. “This kind of act resembled punishing people and not just the dispersal of the manifestation, that constitutes an unlawful act. Moreover, the research showed that the government is tolerant towards such acts,” - Jane Buchanan mentioned.

According to Giorgi Gogia, a researcher of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, the organization calls on the Georgian government to launch an independent, public, transparent and effective investigation into the events of November 7. The government should carry out plenty of measures to avoid such events in the future. Human Rights Watch demands to publicise the exact list of individuals taking part in the dispersal – mentioned Giorgi Gogia.

HRW recommends to immediately fire every official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who have been accused of violating human rights on November 7 and to appropriately punish every perpetrator.

Source: Media News
To view the Human Rights Watch report, “Crossing the Line: Georgia’s Violent Dispersal of Protestors and Raid on Imedi Television” please visit:
hrw.org/reports/2007/georgia1207/

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