Police Say MP was Held over Drunk Driving

A lawmaker from the opposition UNM party, Giorgi Karbelashvili, had to spend last night in a police station after being caught on driving under the influence of alcohol, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

UNM initially said that the incident was a “deliberate provocation staged” by the police, but after the Interior Ministry released a video footage of the incident, substantiating police version of events, the opposition party condemned MP’s actions.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that a car driven by MP Karbelashvili, was pulled over by the police on the Borjomi-Tbilisi road for a “traffic violation”. It said that after police officers asked to present papers and to take a standard field sobriety test the lawmaker “insulted patrol police crew verbally and physically.”

“Giorgi Karbelashvili and another person, who was accompanying him, were detained and taken to the nearest police station in the village of Osiauri. The test has showed that MP Giorgi Karbelashvili was drunk behind the wheel. The person accompanying him was also under the influence of alcohol. After the test, Karbelashvili left the police station and another parson remains in detention,” the Interior Ministry said.

It also said that the investigation is ongoing under the clause of criminal code which deals with cases of resisting police committed with violence by a group of people.

Some UNM lawmakers, including deputy speaker of parliament Giorgi Baramidze, arrived at the Osiauri police station trying in vain to enter into the station to see detained Karbelashvili.

Karbelashvili was then transferred from Osiauri to Gori police station before being released early on Monday. During the transfer, as policemen were escorting him to car, Karbelashvili, who was naked above the waist, was shouting: “I was having a feast with my co-fighters and they arrested me because I was fighting for freedom; I was with heroes and they arrested me.” Meanwhile, MP Giorgi Baramidze was trying to prevent police from putting Karbelashvili in car and shouting that Karbelashvili is a member of parliament; he was holding a mobile phone in another hand filming the scene.

MP Karbelashvili denied insulting police officers and told Rustavi 2 TV on Monday that he was “kidnapped” by the police.

Earlier on Monday a senior UNM lawmaker, Giorgi Gabashvili, said that Karbelashvili was at an event marking anniversary of death of a Georgian soldier who fell during the August, 2008 war. After the event, he said, police, which “was acting aggressively” provoked scuffle with the MP.

“It was an obvious provocation; they [the police] exceeded their powers,” MP Gabashvili said. “Such provocation against the opposition is government’s priority… No one is asking for privileges for our lawmakers, but the way how it happened – large number of policemen in the village at the time, their aggressive behavior and deliberate provocation – indicates that it was a pre-planned provocation against Karbelashvili. As it seems authorities were irritated that our friend was with his friends, marking such an important day.”

But the Interior Ministry released later on Monday fragments from police dashcam video footage, as well as footage from police body camera, contradicting Karbelashvili’s account of events. The video showed MP and his companion insulting and resisting police.

After the video was released, UNM MP Giorgi Gabashvili said that although MP Karbelashvili is fellow party member and “a friend, such actions against patrol police officers cannot be justified.”