Outcry over Beating of Lawyer in Police Station

Rights groups have called on the authorities for a prompt and effective investigation into allegations of beating of a defense lawyer by police officers in one of the police stations in Tbilisi center.

Lawyer Giorgi Mdinaradze said that he was beaten by police officers inside Tbilisi’s Vake-Saburtalo police station No.5 in early hours of November 8.

He said that about five policemen, among them chief of the police station, were beating him.

The prosecutor’s office said that investigation was opened into the alleged incident, and according to the Interior Ministry chief of the police station in question was suspended pending investigation.
 
Giorgi Mdinaradze is a lawyer from the state-funded Legal Aid Service, which provides legal counsel and representation free of charge to defendants who cannot afford to pay for an attorney.

Mdinaradze, who required hospitalization, said that he was handcuffed and beaten by the police officers after advising a detained juvenile to exercise his right to silence.

“They [policemen] put my hands in cuffs and I could not even cover face with hands as they were beating me for five or ten minutes,” Mdinaradze, who suffered concussion and had bruises on his face, told journalists after he was discharged from the hospital on November 9.
 
The case caused outcry from legal advocacy and rights groups, which have called on the prosecutor’s office to investigate the incident promptly and effectively.

About dozen of civil society organizations said in their joint statement on November 9 that this case highlights the lack of affective accountability mechanisms and the problem of “impunity” within the law enforcement system.

“Such cases further amplify the mistrust among the society towards police, undermine the importance of all reforms and seemingly damage the professional activities of lawyers,” reads the statement, adding that number of previous cases of abuse of power by the police were not investigated promptly and effectively, which prompts perception in the public that the problem is of a “systemic” nature.

The Legal Aid Service, which is accountable before the Parliament and where lawyer Mdinaradze works, condemned the incident and called on the legislative body to provide effective parliamentary oversight over the investigation process.

Public Defender, Ucha Nanuashvili, said in a statement on November 8 that the investigation into this case will be a “test” for the authorities that will show how the human rights are being protected in the country.
 
President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s adviser for human rights, Kakha Kozhoridze, who visited Mdinaradze in hospital on November 9, condemned lawyer’s beating in the police station as “appalling.”

“It will be even more appalling if the case is not promptly investigated and if the perpetrators are not held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The President is informed about the case will follow it to the end,” Kozhoridze said.