Public Defender Says Pretrial Detention of Opposition Activists ‘Unjustified’

Kutaisi City Court’s decision to send three opposition activists to a pretrial detention after spat with GD MP “is not justified” and “causes suspicions over selective application of justice,” Georgian Public Defender, Ucha Nanuashvili, said in a statement.

The court ordered the pretrial detention pending trial of three activists from the opposition UNM party and its affiliated group, Free Zone, on October 5 in connection to an incident involving a confrontation with a lawmaker from the Georgian Dream ruling coalition, Davit Lortkipanidze, which occurred on October 2 outside the Parliament building in Kutaisi when the activists were holding a rally in support of Rustavi 2 TV.
 
When UNM MP Giorgi Gviniashvili was punched by a Georgian Dream supporter during grape growers’ protest in Gurjaani on September 14, the perpetrator was charged without being detained. There have also been other cases of assault on UNM MPs in previous years in which perpetrators were fined, but not detained.
 
The Public Defender said in his statement on October 7 that the court decision “fails to meet standard for justification” and relies on the prosecution’s argument that repeat of a crime by the accused men is expected because in the past they had already committed administrative misdemeanors, which in itself does not constitute to neither a criminal offense nor a prerequisite that a criminal offense will be committed in the future.

“It is noteworthy, that in similar cases in recent years, involving violence against parliament members, criminal charges were filed under the article 239 [hooliganism], but no pretrial detention applied. It causes suspicions over selective application of justice and does not strengthen public confidence towards the prosecution and justice system,” the Public Defender said.

In a joint statement on October 6, a group of ten civil society and human rights organizations also raised concern over this case, saying that it demonstrated “selective enforcement of law and state institutions.”

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