Georgian police arrested two opposition representatives on Sunday, during a new demonstration against the government, accused of an authoritarian prorussian drift and of seeking to prevent rapprochement with the European Union.
Nika Melia, of the Proeuropian Liberal Party Akhali, and Guigui Ougoulava, former mayor of Tbilisi, were arrested while participating with several thousand people in an attempted motorway, at the northern entrance to the capital, According to a journalist from the France-Presse agency. Other demonstrators, one of whom seemed injured, were also arrested.
“The brutal repression of peaceful demonstrators, journalists and politicians, this evening in Tbilisi, is unacceptable”reacted the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, on X.
Demonstrations against Georgian Dream, the ruling party, have taken place daily since the movement claimed victory after legislative elections that the opposition deemed fraudulent, at the end of October. The crisis worsened the following month, when it suspended the European Union membership process, a decision perceived as a betrayal by part of the country, including pro-Western youth. The latter considers that the government prefers to get closer to Russia and wants to imitate the methods of its president, Vladimir Putin.
Nika Melia and Guigui Ougoulava have already spent several years in prison during the reign of Georgian dreams, on the basis of accusations motivated politically, according to human rights NGOs. Other demonstrators, one of whom seemed injured, were also arrested on Sunday. The independent chain Pirveli broadcast images showing the police brutally hitting some of them.
“The government is afraid”
“All this police violence just shows that the government is afraid”launched a Kote Baramia, a 22 -year -old protester. “The Georgians will not give in, our democracy is in danger”.
The Georgian rights defender, Levan Ioseliani, said in a statement that “Cases of ill -treatment and excessive use of the police on the part of the police against citizens, journalists and politicians are extremely disturbing”. Zviad Kharazishvili, head of the Tbilisi Police Special Operations Department sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom for human rights violations, was heard of obscenities to the demonstrators. The latter then started a walk of several kilometers towards Parliament, their usual gathering place.
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The Georgian Interior Ministry had previously published a warning claiming that blocking a highway could be considered “Like a crime liable to four years in prison”.
When the first wave of demonstrations began, at the end of November, the row police used tear gas canisters and water cannons to disperse the crowds. More than 400 people have been arrested, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Levan Ioseliani and the NGO Amnesty International accused the police of acts of torture.
Georgian human rights defenders accuse the power to have launched an intimidation campaign, tobacco passages and arrests to punish those who dare to descend into the street. Georgian security forces and justice are facing recurring accusations of opponents. The EU suspended the exemption from visa on Monday for Georgian diplomats and leaders, invoking the adoption of repressive laws and the “Violent repression of the Georgian authorities against peaceful demonstrators, politicians and independent media”.
Last year, the United States and several European countries imposed sanctions on Georgian leaders by denouncing the shift from Tbilisi to Russia, the violent repression of the demonstrators and post-electoral dissensions. Georgia also faces an unprecedented constitutional crisis, since the opposition refuses to sit in the freshly elected parliament. The pro-Western President, Salomé Zourabichvili, declared it illegitimate, just like the executive.
Her successor, Mikheïl Kavelachvili, from the far right and faithful to the Georgian dream, took an oath on December 29, after being elected on 14 by an electoral college controlled by the ruling party, but she refuses to give way .
Source: Lemonde