Irakli Batiashvili Talks about his Disappearance

Irakli Batiashvili, one of the leaders of the recent street protests, who was believed to be missing since the riot police broke up the rally overnight on May 26, told journalists on Saturday that he was in hiding, claiming that the police was pursuing him.

The Interior Ministry said earlier on May 28, that it had launched searching for Batiashvili based on the public statements made by his family, saying that they were not aware of Batiashvili’s whereabouts.

On Saturday afternoon reports emerged that Batiashvili returned back to home and few hours later he convened a press conference in his home in downtown Tbilisi district of Vake.

He told journalists that after the start of the dispersal of the rally shortly after midnight on May 26, he found shelter in a nearby movie theater, Rustaveli, before moving to another nearby building, where he had spent about 15 hours hiding from the police, which, he claimed, were chasing him trying to apprehend.

The Interior Ministry said for several times that the police had no intention to arrest Batiashvili and that the police were not aware of his whereabouts.

Batiashvili also said he had spent rest of the time before returning back to home on May 28 in a home in the Tbilisi suburb. He also said that he tried to inform the family that he was alive not directly, but through a go-between man; his family members said they were receiving lots of various and conflicting information about Batiashvili’s whereabouts and it was difficult to identify which of them was true.

Batiashvili also made a comment regarding the secret video footage disseminated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He noted that this material “does not prove anything” and does not indicate on anti-state plant. He called on government to fully publish the secret recordings that shows him as well. According to him, the testimony of the resigned general Gia Uchava where he talks about the violent plans is “stupidity” and was a result of “pressure” and “impact of medicine.”

civil.ge