Despite the fact that there were legitimate grounds for breaking up the demonstration, local and international NGOs estimate that the force used by the riot police was disproportional. Georgian Civil Society condemns the violence used against demonstrators and holds a silent demonstration on 1 June, at 11:30 pm, in front of the parliament building.

30 May, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) published the list of the people who are considered to have disappeared since the dispersal of the protest rally on 26 May.  The list consists of around 50 names. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia states that they have not received any statement about these missing people, thus “nobody considers them missing”.

“We composed this list on the basis of the addresses given by family members, friends and relatives of the missing, as well as the information from different news agencies. This list has been compared to the lists of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the public defender and it has been concluded that these people are not under custody”– explains GYLA.

“Despite the availability of legal grounds and the authorities’ calls for the protesters to leave the territory, before breaking up the rally, the force used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs on May 26, 2011 was disproportionate. Video footage disseminated by different media outlets makes it clear that law enforcement bodies used excessive force – even when protesters did not or could not offer any resistance. It is deprived of any legal or reasonable grounds to chase and physically assault people who are running away or hiding in buildings”- states Georgian Human Rights Organizations’ joint letter of concern. 

“I knew from my personal experience that, as a result of the dispersal, a lot of people would appear in the hospital, thus I went to “Respulikuri” hospital. They didn’t let anybody in, but I managed to enter the hospital and saw that the injured people were lying in emergency rooms. A few hours later, absolute chaos began. Ambulances were arriving, bringing bloody and beaten people. When I asked the injured people where they were coming from, they responded that – from pre-detention isolators. What I witnessed is that around 50-60 injured people were brought, but the worse thing is that the hospital staff were ordered not to give out any information about received patients. I am a member of the Commission on Healthcare and Social Issues on the Tbilisi City Council; however, they didn’t give me this information, not to mention the civilians who were looking for their relatives in vain. Later, I will request some accountability on behalf of the Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, Andrew Urushadze” – said Inga Grigolia from the Christian-Democratic Movement. 

Human Rights House Tbilisi contacted Nato Khurtsilava, the head of the press-centre at “Respublikuri” hospital. “54 people were hospitalized who received injuries during the dispersal of the protest action on 26 May.  They entered the hospital at 12:17 a.m. and the process continued for around 3-4 hours. As most of them had light injuries, they left the hospital within 24 hours. At present, there are no patients who were injured at the demonstration in the hospital”- said Khurtsidze.

After the press center of the hospital gave us this information, the Human Rights House Tbilisi visited “Respublikuri”, in order to learn more about their situation. We learned on the spot that injured people from demonstration still remained at the hospital.

Shorena Latatia: “I managed to enter the emergency department, though it was forbidden. In the corridor, I met a woman who was saying that her son was injured during the dispersal of the demonstration and the next day he had to be operated on. A security policeman was calming her down. Soon, a man with a bandaged head came out from the doctor’s office and sat next to me. I learned he was injured during the dispersal as well. When I left the hospital, I heard security policemen chatting with his colleague. One of them said that around 100 injured people entered the hospital that night. “One patient died yesterday as well”- he whispered.

The Human Rights House Tbilisi also visited the mortuary on Asatiani st. and learned that on May 26, only two corpses of, Tskhadadze and Maisuradze were brought.

“There were two bodies. I have not seen them and I don’t know anything. The investigator prohibited me from commenting on this issue”- said Irakli Bakhtadze, the Head of the Medical Department.

In the First Clinic (also called “Aramiantsi”) they speak about 13 injured people. “On May 26, 13 injured were brought. Six of them were policeman and seven were civilians. Mainly, they had light bruises and traumatic shock. Some of them left the hospital quickly and some of them were moved to the urgent care area,” – said the Head of Hospital Reception, Nodar Otarashvili.

It was quite hard to get any comment from the urgent care department. They just told us that all the patients have already left the hospital.

On 27 May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia discovered two bodies on the roof of the shop located near the Metro station “Tavisufleba” on Rustaveli Avenue. According to official reports, the deaths were caused by touching power cables. Though, later Nika Kvinitadze (one of the dead), was recognized in the photo taken during the dispersal. On the photo, he was lying on the road; still alive and being detained by the riot police. After the dispersal, the second victim was considered missing as well. According to family, the bodies had manacles on them when they were found on the roof. However, the investigation has not found any possible connection of these people to the protest rallies, which took place on Rustaveli Avenue.   

As a result of the monitoring of the pre-detention isolators conducted by the Public Defender of Georgia on May 26-28, it had been revealed that most of the detainees bear- to varying degrees- severe injuries. Several of them bear serious injuries which are also confirmed by protocols on visual examination when entering the isolators. In conversations with the representatives of the PDO, the detainees declare that they received the injuries both at the time of the dispersal of the protest and afterwards. However, many of them refused to give an explanation to a representative of the Public Defender’s Office at this stage.

Human Rights Centre actively monitored the demonstrations in the framework of the project implemented with the support of the OSCE office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights: 

Though the protest rally was unauthorized starting from 00:00 am of 26 May and some of the demonstrators were preparing to oppose the police, the monitoring of Human Rights Centre revealed that special police units used excessive force and in some cases, deliberately violated the law.

Specifically, the police created siege around the demonstrators. The Special Forces occupied all streets which could be used for escape. They chased the fleeing people to the movie theatre Rustaveli where the Pirates of Caribbean premiered. The members of the Special Forces searched for the protest rally participants in the hall of the theatre, detained them and took them out.

Thus, the goal of the operation was not the dispersal of the protest rally or the coercion of demonstrators to leave the territory but the strongest possible physical retribution. The number of members of the Special Forces largely exceeded the number of the protest rally participants and they actively used this advantage. There are scenes showing tens of Special Forces officers beating one demonstrator.

The documented actions of the Special Forces make us believe that the instructions given to inflict brutal physical vengeance on the demonstrators was given by the leadership of the MIA. Prior to the raid, tens of municipal yellow buses and police special vehicles and equipment were mobilized in Ortachala.   Fire-engines, Hi Lux pickups and police cobras were also prepared. Such universal mobilization could have taken place only by the order of the Minister himself“.

“Dismissal of the demonstration on May 26 will be investigated adequately and in case of need, corresponding decisions will be made,”- stated the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nino Kalandadze. “I don’t think this fact will have any negative estimation from the international community. There is no doubt that the dismissal was a legitimate act” – added Kalandadze.

A special statement was published by the Public Defender of Georgia. “Most of the people detained on the night of May 26, were not allowed to contact their family members or lawyers. Several people are still in the temporary detention isolators with and under psychological and physical threat. I appeal to the Human Rights organizations and other nongovernmental organizations and lawyers to address this issue” – reports the statement. 

On 28-29 May, solidarity action was held on Rustaveli Avenue, where Georgian society expressed solidarity towards the dispersed protesters. In addition, on June 1, at 11:30 pm, Georgian non-governmental organizations held a silent demonstration in front of the parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue. Georgian civil society protested the ruthlessly dispersed demonstration by the riot police of the MIA on 26 May.

Shorena Latatia,

Tea Topuria