Several protesters and opposition members are reported to have been assaulted and beaten by unidentified groups of people on May 8. One of them, a member of the UNM party, Dimitri Chikovani was attacked and severely beaten near his apartment building entrance in Sololaki district. Recalling the incident he said that he was attacked by two people in hoodies, whom he called “the pro-government thugs” on the air of Formula TV. CCTV footage later aired on television showed him being beaten by five people. He was later found lying near the entrance and taken to the hospital.
Another person attacked tonight is Lasha Ghvinianidze, one of the activists of the current demonstrations, and one of the organizers of the bikers’ marches. He had bruises and lacerations on his head and lip and had to get five stitches in the hospital.
Later in the evening, Gia Japaridze, another activist, a former career diplomat and professor at the University of Georgia as well as the researcher of Chavchavadze Center, a think-tank, was also beaten in the yard of his home. Gia Japaridze is the brother of the leader of the Girchi-More Freedom opposition party, Zurab Japaridze.
Over the past two days, many activists, opposition, media, and civil society representatives, as well as ordinary citizens who have been taking part in the rallies against the Foreign Agents law have become targets of harassing and abusive telephone calls, whereby they and their family members have been threatened and insulted. These anonymous calls have caused an outcry. The Georgian Young Lawyers Association, a watchdog, stated that given the nature of the calls and their targets, there is a “reasonable suspicion that the data are being processed illegally using the databases of the respective state authorities,” the GYLA says.
The Ministry of the Interior has not reacted to the beating incidents, instead saying it will hold a briefing on the morning of May 9.
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