Opposition Rallies in ‘Solidarity with Political Prisoners’

Protesters blocked on April 30 Tbilisi’s main thoroughfares, Rustaveli Avenue and Freedom Square, for more than an hour demanding release of, what the opposition calls, “political prisoners” and “illegally arrested persons”.

The rally was a follow-up to a joint appeal, which a large group of opposition parties, both parliamentary and non-parliamentary, made on April 12 in address to international community and Tbilisi-based foreign diplomats in an attempt to highlight the problem of political prisoners.
 
“This is show of our solidarity towards political prisoners,” Sozar Subari of Alliance for Georgia told reporters at the rally on April 30.

“Illegally holding a person behind bars is one of the most effective methods to rig the elections, because when a person is illegally arrested it makes difficult for others to freely express their opinion,” Zurab Nogaideli, ex-PM and leader of Movement for Fair Georgia, told reporters at the rally.

Initially, the protesters, which also included several opposition leaders, among others, ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze; co-founder of public movement Defend Georgia Levan Gachechiladze and Zviad Dzidziguri, leader of Conservative Party, gathered outside the Parliament and then marched to a nearby Freedom Square.

Protesters were also demanding to replace current practice of consecutive sentencing with concurrent one, as well large-scale amnesty and making process of pre-term release of inmates transparent.

The rally dispersed peacefully by the evening; organizers said they would again hold demonstration on May 6.
 
Smaller rally with the same demands was also held on April 15 outside the Parliament.

The series of rallies is spearheaded by Eka Beselia, former member of ex-defense minister Irakli Okruashvili’s party. Her brother Sergo Beselia and son Rati Milorava were arrested last August and in December Batumi City Court sentenced them to 2.5-year and 1.5-year prison term, respectively, for hooliganism and disobedience to the police orders. Court of Appeals in Kutaisi upheld the ruling on April 28. Beselia claims that her brother and son were arrested and convicted because of her political activities. She quit Okruashvili’s party in February to establish a public movement with a goal "to struggle for illegally arrested persons’ rights and independent judiciary system."

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