In Georgia, several protesters standing for prisoners' rights arrested

Today in Tbilisi, after the rally "Justice is coming", organized by the public movement "Resistance", about ten participants were arrested.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Lasha Chkhartishvili, a participant of the rally and a member of the Conservative Party, that the police detained Ada Marshaniya, Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Abkhazia, painter Shotiko Glordzhidze, and activists of the "Georgian Party" Ketino Gogenashvili, Tengiz Glonti and David Kochiev.

According to Lado Sadgobelashvili, leader of the youth organization "Homeland, Language, Faith", in fact there were up to 10 detainees; however, their names and whereabouts are still unknown.

The protest action started with a rally at 4:00 p.m. at the monument to Shota Rustaveli. After about half an hour of speeches, some three hundred protesters went on marching to the building of the Supreme Court of Georgia, where the action was continued.

"We voiced our demands: to adopt a law on general amnesty and release all political prisoners. Then, the action was over and the crowd scattered. From the very beginning we felt that we were shadowed; and a few minutes later, they began arresting protesters, when the action was over. Thus, it's not correct to assert that the police had stopped a threat to public order," said Lado Sadgobelashvili.

The today's detainee Ada Marshaniya, who had often taken part in refugees' protests, talked to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent a few hours before her arrest.

"Prisoners feel much harder now than we do. Refugees are at least at large while inmates are in prisons, where custody conditions are awful - the facilities are overcrowded. The authorities report that Georgian jails keep some 23-24,000 persons; however, according to our information, there are more than 40,000 prisoners in Georgia. Therefore, I'll always take part in the actions in defence of prisoners' rights," said Ms Marshaniya.

According to her story, beatings of prisoners have become more frequent recently.