Public Defender Demands Investigation of Torture of Detainees Arrested on June 15

Sozar Subari, Public Defender appealed to Mamuka Gvaramia, Chief Prosecutor of Georgia to investigate the violations committed by law enforcement officers against demonstrators at the Tbilisi Main Police Department on June 15.

According to the Public Defender’s Office, about 100 people held rally at the Tbilisi main Police Department of the MIA at about 2.00 pm on June 15, 2009. A representative of the Public Defender was monitoring the rally. 10 minutes later policemen arrived and dispersed the protesters. They seized cameras and other equipments from the journalists who attended the demonstration and physically assaulted them. They ruthlessly beat Vakhtang Menabde, representative of the Public Defender.

The Police detained 38 participants of the rally. On the same day Administrative Collegium of the Tbilisi Civil Court sent five detainees - Dachi Tsaguria, Mikheil Meskhi, Giorgi Chitarishvili, Merab Chikashvili and Giorgi Sabanadze, to 30-day administrative imprisonment. The rest 33 detainees were fined with 400 GEL.

According to the official statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the representatives of the opposition blocked the road and the main entrance to the Tbilisi Main Police Department. The Police tried to free the road and the entrance but the protesters resisted to the police officers, so they detained the demonstrators for the resistance to the police.

Later Eka Zguladze, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, made an official statement that the policemen noticed several people who had taken part in the events on July 12 at the building of the Parliament and decided to detain them. The protesters resisted to the law enforcement officers and it turned into the incident.

According to the Ombudsman’s Office, the General Inspection of the MIA carried out investigation of the incident. Consequently two police officers were strictly reprimanded, four policemen were reprimanded and three others had their professional authority ceased till the end of the investigation.

The representatives of the Public Defender interrogated demonstrators, detainees and journalists who attended the rally.

According to the official data, on June 15, 17 demonstrators were taken to Gudushauri National Medical Center. They had skull injuries and different kinds of bruises.

The statements and mass media, the video-recordings of the online edition ITV.ge demonstrated that demonstrators did not resist to law enforcers; furthermore the police started attack on the peaceful demonstrators suddenly.( you can see the video on the following link http://ITV.ge//?p=10381itV). The video recording show how aggressive the police officers were towards the demonstrators when they were reading the statement. Besides that, the demonstrators did not block the road and they were 20 meters far away from the building of the Police Department.
The law enforcers laid siege to the peaceful demonstrators without any warning and did not allow them to run away. They began to beat them by wooden and iron truncheons and used baseball rockets. The law enforcers were chasing fleeing protesters and beat them. About 7-8 policemen were beating one demonstrator. They beat them mainly in the back and in the head.

Goga Grigalashvili, head of Patrol Police Department of Georgia and Giorgi Gegechkori, a head of Tbilisi and Mtskheta-Tianeti patrol Police Department attended the dispersal of the rally participants. Giorgi Gegechkori was insulting demonstrators verbally. He personally ordered to beat demonstrators and to detain Dachi Tsaguria.

The Policemen beat the protesters during and afterwards detention; detainees were compelled to go through “the corridor of shame”, were beaten with iron truncheons, spitted at them and insulted. They forced the detainees to lie on the floor and then took photos of them. The policemen were beating and insulting the members of the Youth Movements.

According to the statement of Dachi Tsaguria, the policemen were looking for him among detainees; finely when they found him started to assault and insult him. One of them hit him in the head and in the right hand several times with baseball rockets, and another policemen kicked Tsaguria.

According to Mikheil Meskhi, 20-30 policemen beat him in the yard of the police department while he was being led from the car to the building. The policemen continued to beat him when the detainees were lying on the floor.

The representative of the public Defender was ruthlessly beaten as well; he confirms the fact of physical and verbal assaults against the detainees lying on the floor in the Police Department. Afterwards the detainees were registered and sent to the detention setting. The policemen seized their properties and made them to take off clothes. The detainees were registered once again in the detention setting, however detention protocol on the representative of the Public Defender and other detainees were not drawn up.

The detainees spent 25-30 minutes in the detention setting. Afterwards, they were brought to court which sentenced five of them to administrative imprisonment.

According to Giorgi Sabanadze’s statement to the Public Defender, the policemen continued his physical assault in the detention setting. In addition to that, when the detainees returned to the Tbilisi Main Police Department, the territory was still crowded with the policemen holding truncheons and continued insulting of Dachi Tsaguria and threatened him with beating again.

According to the statement of Giorgi Bekauri, a member of the Youth Movement WHY?, the police officers made him to lie down, chained his legs and took him to the Police Department, where the law enforcers continued to beat him.

Bearing above-mentioned facts into consideration, the Public Defender considers that the personnel of the law enforcement bodies breached the Criminal Code of Georgia. More precisely, the representative of the public Defender was arbitrarily detained. (The Criminal Code Article143)

Vakhtang Menabde, the representative of the Public Defender, was wearing special uniform of the Public Defender’s form and it was torn while he was being beaten. When he entered the Police Department, he was already dressed in civil clothes; however he reported to the law enforcers that he represented the Ombudsman when he was taken to the detention setting. 

The representative of the Public Defender spent 15 minutes in the detention setting with other 9 detainees. Afterwards one of the officers of the MIA released him and apologized for their mistake. Vakhtang Menabde left the building from the back exit.

After returning to the Office of Public Defender, Vakhtang Menabde was provided with medical assistance and then he was taken to the former Mikhailov Hospital.

According to the Public Defender, the activity of the policemen in regard with the representative of the Public Defender, as well as in regard with other detainees and injured protesters, who stay at the Gudushauri National Medical Center, is violation of the Article 144, Paragraph I of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

On June 23, 2009, “Empathy” rehabilitation Medical Center for the Victims of Torture, Violence, and Intimidation examined the detainees in the detention setting #2 within the Tbilisi Main Police Department. According to “Empathy”, descriptions of the injuries of the detainees made by the personnel of Emergency Medical Center and by the medical personnel of the detention setting contradict each other.

“Empathy” concluded that torture, ill-treatment and inhuman/degrading treatment were observed during the detention of the demonstrators; the fact is aggravated by poor medical assistance at the prison.

Consequently, the public defender considers that law enforcement officers committed crime. He recommended to Mamuka Gvaramia, chief prosecutor of Georgia, to investigate the crime committed by policemen immediately.

In addition to that, the public defender urges the chief prosecutor to consider the health conditions of the detainees and not to publish the report of medical monitoring of the Center “Empathy”.

Source: Medianews