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People Imprisoned Under Request of the Regional Governor

November 29, 2010
Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

In the evening of November 27, the residents of the Vazisubani village in Gurjaani district held protest rally near the Telavi-Tbilisi motorway. About 100 people protested the suspension of the electricity supply to the village by the JSC “Kakheti Energy Distribution Company”. Later, several people blocked the Telavi-Tbilisi motorway. Soon, the regional governor Giorgi Ghviniasvhili arrived at the place, who was traveling from Sighnaghi to Telavi; in Sighnaghi he had attended the festival of barbecue and wine. The demonstrators blamed the regional governor in the indifferent attitude towards the population that astonished the drunken regional governor and ordered the police officers to arrest the participants of the protest rally.

“The Kakheti Energy Distribution Company” compels us to pay additional payments together with our bills and if we do not pay them, they suspend the electricity supply. We have petitioned to many institutions but nobody paid attention to us. We informed the electricity fitter about the family who had damaged electricity meter (it increases the real amount of spent electricity on the communal meter), but they did not do anything. Finally, we had to hold the protest rally,” said the residents of Vazisubani village.

“The regional governor was traveling from the festival in Sighnaghi and he was a bit drunk. He did not even listen to our complaints. He started shouting how we dared to block the motorway. Before he ordered the police officers to arrest complainers, the road was already free. Despite that, the boys were already detained. The regional governor said he would punish us this time in order to prevent future protest rallies,” said the participants of the demonstration.

Under request of the regional governor the police officers arrested 4 people and they were charged under Article 173 of the Administrative Code of Georgia (resistance to law enforcement officers). The judge Labaza Duishvili at the Telavi district court discussed the administrative protocols on November 28.

Zurab Kakiashvili, a detainee: “When I joined the demonstration, the motorway was already blocked. The officials of the district and regional authorities were also at the place. I approached them to find out what was going on. The regional governor asked me what I complained about and I said the energy distribution company illegally imposed payments on us and nobody cares about those violations. The governor asked me if we had any other complaints and I told him we had neither drinking water nor gas in the village. I reminded him that when he was a  single mandate  candidate of the parliamentary elections in 2008, the pipes were brought to the village and they promised us to supply the village with the gas; the president even lit gas in the school building but the village has not supplied with gas yet. After my statement the regional governor left the area. Two minutes later, the head of the police approached me and asked if I was the son of Tsutsuna. I said I was and then he ordered me to follow him. The head of the police requested me to sit in his car; five minutes later a police car arrived and they took me to the police station. I had not insulted anybody and did not participate in blockade of the street either; I did not even resist the police officers. Nevertheless, I spent three hours in the Gurjaani district police station before I was taken to Telavi detention setting; nobody explained me the reason of my detention.”

Kakha Mamardashvili, a detainee: “I have an individual electricity meter and I did not have any debts on it. Despite that, the electricity was suspended. I called the electricity fitter and he gave me the phone number of Avto Zarnadze - the head of the Gurjaani service center of the Kakheti Energy Distribution Company. When I called Zarnadze, he said he was in Vazisubani where people had a rally and asked me to join them if I had any complaints. I went there. Zarnadze was standing near the house of the electricity fitter. The demonstrators were 60 meters from that house. I was talking with Zarnadze and asked him to clarify why the electricity supply was suspended when I had no debts. At that moment, the police officer approached me and asked me to follow him. I obeyed his request but when we reached the car he ordered to get into it; finally, I was taken to the detention setting.”

The witnesses also confirmed at the trial that Kakiashvili and Mamardashvili did not participate in the blockade of the motorway and did not resist the police either. However, the judge did not consider their statements and sentenced the detainees to seven-day administrative imprisonment.

The lawyer of the Kakheti office of the Human Rights Center Lia Khuroshvili represented the detainees at the court hearing. She said the court decisions are groundless and unfair. “The police officers could not clarify their requirements to the offenders and could not describe how the detainees resisted them. The people were detained because of free expression,” said the attorney.

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