NGOs urge PO to treat rally participants in Tbilisi as victims

Today, seventeen Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called on the Prosecutor's Office (PO) to grant the victim status to those wounded during the dispersal of the protest action at night on June 21. In a joint statement circulated today, the above NGOs suggested that the state would not admit the facts of inflicting grievous harm to health of citizens and journalists.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 21, law enforcers dispersed the protesters in Tbilisi. The Georgian Ministry for Public Health reported that 240 people were hospitalized, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) reported about the detention of 305 protesters.

"It's necessary to immediately award the status of victims to all those who received injuries as a result of law enforcers' actions. It's necessary to conduct a timely, efficient, objective and impartial investigation into the current cases," says the joint statement of the NGOs received today by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Besides, the signatories of the statement have called on the PO to periodically inform the public about the investigation, since it is of high public interest.

In their statement, NGOs indicate that, according to the official data, a total of 275 persons suffered during the dispersal of the protest action; 187 of them were civilians, 15 journalists; however, according to other sources, 32 journalists and 73 law enforcers were injured.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 5, 2019 at 05:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.