Georgia: opposition gathers for protest rally

In Georgia, at the MIA building in Tbilisi, the opposition is starting a rally with a demand to release the detainees, kept in the internal prison on political grounds. According to Soso Panuashvili, the Human Rights representative in Tbilisi, so far, no incidents have been registered.

According to his story, on May 18, a friend of Irakliy Batiashvili, former Minister of State Security, also a detainee, was arrested. For this reason, a protest action was held at the KGB building. Another action was held in protest against detentions of the militaries, accused of preparing a mutiny and against detentions of oppositionists.

Today, the opposition plans repeating this action at the MIA premises.

The person arrested on May 18 is a retired KGB colonel who is now fired. According to Irakliy Batiashvili, the reason was that the colonel had openly opposed Saakashvili's government back in 2007. Mr Panuashvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that, in the opinion of oppositionists, the colonel was arrested because he attended demonstration and protest actions and openly criticized Saakashvili's government. Oppositionists see this as the reason of his detention.

According to the human rights activist, it is not known what happens with the detainee now, as only personal advocates and the Ombudsman have access to detainees.