Roma Accuse Police of Abusing their Rights based on Ethnic Group

Roma people living in the village of Leninovka in Dedoplistskaro district accuse district police officers for having abused their rights because of their ethnic group. Roma reported to the Human Rights Centre how law enforcers had demanded them to plead guilty for certain crimes committed by other people in the district in order to solve the cases. In addition, law enforcers constantly are oppressing them, and if Roma people refuse to admit to various crimes they are seriously abused and their rights violated.

“If somebody steals something in the district the blame is immediately put on us for the crime.  They demand for us to admit to crimes crime but we refused. Now we cannot move about in the street freely. They even make us sign empty sheets of papers but we are illiterate and cannot guess what they plan to write afterwards. Consequently, many people who were born and grew up in our village have fled,” said some of the Roma.

They have since appealed to Dedoplistskaro district administration and prosecutor’s office; however, nobody has taken an interest in their problems. “The prosecutor only cursed us and threatened us with imprisonment if we even dare to come to his office again,” said the people from Leninovka.

However, Giorgi Bunturi, the head of Dedoplistskaro district police department, has not commented about the Roma problems with the Human Rights Centre. Alternatively, Prosecutor Ioseb Guloshvili could not help but to share his disdain by cursing when having a phone conversation with the Human Rights Centre. The Centre had shared the serious accusations of Roma people that were directed against him.