Activists in Tbilisi block Melikishvili and Rustaveli avenues

On the 288th day of continuous protests, supporters of European integration gathered to protest at the Georgian Dream election headquarters on Melikishvili Avenue, and then headed to the parliament building, blocking traffic on Rustaveli Avenue.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, on September 8, on the 285th day of daily protests, journalists and activists were attacked by Georgian Dream supporters at the party's election headquarters in Tbilisi. On September 9, the 286th day of daily protests, supporters of Georgia's European integration held a protest outside the Georgian Dream campaign headquarters on Melikishvili Avenue in Tbilisi, after which they marched to parliament and blocked traffic on Rustaveli Avenue. On September 10, police reported that student Megi (Irma) Diasamidze had been detained on charges of damaging the ruling party's campaign banners.

Activists demanding the release of political prisoners and new elections gathered today, on the 288th day of continuous protests, near the buildings of the Public Broadcaster and the Philharmonic, from where they moved to the headquarters of Kakha Kaladze, and then walked along Melikishvili Avenue to the parliament, Publika reports.

During the rally near Kaladze's election headquarters, activists blocked traffic on Melikishvili Avenue and chanted "Freedom for Megi Diasamidze!" The girl was charged under the article on destruction or damage to someone else's property (Article 187 of the Criminal Code of Georgia), which provides for up to three years in prison. The protesters did not create obstacles for the movement of emergency vehicles, allowing an ambulance to pass through during the protest, which appeared on Melikishvili Avenue. They also subsequently blocked traffic on Rustaveli Avenue.

Lawyer Shota Tutberidze reported that a lawyer was not allowed to see the detained Megi Diasamidze for nine hours. According to him, the security forces organized a whole “special operation” to detain Diasamidze, simulating a breakdown of the bus on which the girl was traveling home to Adjara.

“They ambushed her somewhere in the Lanchkhuti area, in Guria, in the forest. First, the police approached the driver and scolded him for a non-existent offense, allegedly the driver violated some traffic rule, and then they approached Megi and the first thing they did was take away her phone. After that, for 9 hours, she did not have the opportunity to use the services of a lawyer. (...) The topic of conversation with the police was whether she went to the protests and if so, why. All this time, her hands were cuffed behind her back, despite the fact that she asked to either loosen handcuffs, or fasten them in front,” Netgazeti quotes the lawyer as saying.

Lawyer Saba Brochveli noted that during the pre-election period, liability for damaging a candidate’s posters is regulated not by the criminal code, but by the electoral code, which only provides for a fine of up to a thousand lari (about 370 US dollars). In addition, the inscription on the poster was “erased in a few minutes” by Kaladze’s headquarters staff.

The head of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Nona Kurdovanidze, stated that Megi Diasamidze’s actions are not only not a crime, but also an offense. “The most that could be filed against her would be a civil lawsuit, and only if any expenses were required to remove the inscription from the poster, for example, to buy cleaning products (...) In this case, the poster was not destroyed, it is still on display. The poster cannot even be considered damaged, since the inscription on it was quickly and easily removed,” Tbilisi_life quotes her as saying.

The lawyer also noted that the poster, which the student is accused of damaging, is located on the building of the Sakartvelo Hotel (12 Melikishvili Avenue), which is recognized as a cultural heritage site. At the same time, the Electoral Code “categorically prohibits” placing campaign materials on buildings with such a status.

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