On June 4, human rights defenders and activists arrested for holding paper banners at the June 2 rally were released, after 48 hours in pretrial detention.
Saba Brachveli, Eduard Marikashvili and Nika Romanadze were the last ones to leave the detention facilities. Earlier, activist Lasha Janjgava and member of the “Girchi-More Freedom” party, Levan Nishnianidze were released. Among those detained on June 2 was defense lawyer Shota Tutberidze, who was released shortly after his arrest.
Eduard Marikashvili, the chairman of the Georgia Democratic Initiative (GDI), who was detained for holding a blank piece of paper, said after his release that his detention and keeping in pretrial custody for 48 hours were “absolutely illegal.” According to him, the government is forgetting that “the power they are playing with, and they are playing with human freedom, is given to them by the people.”
“I will do my best as a human rights defender, as a representative of a civil society organization, so that many people in Georgia understand that we did not give power to the government to play with, but to ensure our well-being,” he emphasized.
After his release, Saba Brachveli of the Open Society Georgia Foundation told reporters that “our country cannot be a country where people are sent to prison for holding a blank piece of paper.” He added that they disagree with the protocols drawn up by police and the factual circumstances presented in them and will say the same at the trials.
“They treated me the way people are treated in Russia, and I think we all agree that the regime has been completely exposed, and if there were any doubts about its foreign policy course, that it would lead to Russia, now we can confidently say that it has already launched repressions inside the country, the same as in Russia,” Nika Romanadze, a civic activist said.
Giorgi Mshvenieradze, a lawyer and civil society representative, told reporters that what the law enforcement officers did in front of the Parliament on June 2 amounted to three different crimes provided for in the Criminal Code. According to him, in the near future they will apply to the Prosecutor’s Office with a request to open an investigation and punish those policemen who “were not law enforcement officers, but offenders.”
On June 3, before the release of the detainees, the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi addressed the issue of the detained protesters, stating that the U.S. Embassy is closely monitoring the cases of those who were arrested and detained on June 2 while peacefully demonstrating in front of the Parliament. “The rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are core human rights and fundamental to democracy. A lack of tolerance for dissent is inconsistent with the values of the Euro-Atlantic family of nations, which the majority of the people of Georgia wish to join,” added the embassy.
In solidarity with those arrested for holding protest banners on June 2, protests were held in Tbilisi and Batumi the following day under the banner “Protecting Freedom of Expression”. According to the on-line publication “Batumelebi”, law enforcement officers arrested a total of six people, including two minors, during the ongoing rally in Batumi. They have already been released.
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