Violent Boss

Aleko Tskitishvili

The head of the Tbilisi Patrol Police Giorgi Gegechkori joined the fight occurred at the game between Tbilisi basketball team and “Sokhumi” on May 7th.

The head of the patrol police entered the sport field after the player of the team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Besarion Lezhava physically insulted the arbiter Maka Kupatadze. Giorgi Gegechkori hit the police official. The video material was disseminated on youtube. (See the Video)

The video material shows that Giorgi Gegechkori entered the field not as a high official of the police but as a fan. He did nothing for keeping the order. He violated the order himself.

As for the incident between the basketball player and arbiter, 13 seconds before the end of the game, Lezhava hit the arbiter in the head. The game ended as a result and “Sokhumi” was announced to be a winner.

The disciplinary-technical committee session was held in the Georgian Basketball Federation on the incident. According to their decision, Beso Lezhava will be disqualified till January 1 of 2013.

According to GYLA, the issue of Giorgi Gegechkori’s disciplinary responsibility should be raised.

As the GYLA representative Giorgi Gotsiridze stated to interpressnews, though Gegechkori did not act while fulfilling his work responsibility, his conduct discredited the MIA. The policeman, who should fight against violence and injustice, violated the law. Accordingly, the MIA General Inspection should study this matter and take measures envisaged by law. The sanctions may be the remark, warning and dismissal.

The head of Tbilisi patrol police Giorgi Gegechkori was active during assemblies and manifestations as well. The detained demonstrators often blamed him for violence. International human rights organizations and diplomatic missions accredited in Georgia have information on incidents on Gegechkori.

It should be noted that the game of MIA’s basketball team ended with incident last year as well. On April 27th of 2010, the basketball team of MIA and Rustavi Energy Invest played the final match of national championship. After the Energy Invest won the game, the fight erupted in the sports complex of Rustavi Azoti. According to the journalists who witnessed the game, the representatives of MIA made a siege around about 20 young fans of Rustavi basketball team and started to beat them. The incident was videotaped by the operators of Public Broadcaster and regional televisions. The MIA representatives seized their tapes.

This incident was not broadcast in the media except for the article of humanrights.ge submitted by the regional correspondent – “Match Which Was not Covered by Journalists – Aggressive Fans of MIA Attacked Fans of “Azoti” Team.”