UNM Representatives Say Attacked by Government-Paid Thugs in Zugdidi
Ana Tsitlidze, leader of the Zugdidi branch of the United National Movement, at a briefing held on September 20 said that she and her party members and youth representatives were subjected to an organized attack by supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party in Zugdidi on September 19. Video footage of the incident shows dozens of people physically attacking and abusing the UNM members as they distribute campaign leaflets.
Tsitlidze stated that the UNM representatives were attacked by people directly linked to the government and that all of them were under the influence of narcotics. She held up pictures of the attackers, whom she said had been identified as having ties to the GD, including, according to her, the following:
- A relative of Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, Shota Bajaladze, whom Tsitlidze accuses of distributing drugs to the attackers. Bajaladze is an employee of the General Inspection Department of the MIA.
- Goga Mosia, Deputy Director of the Arts and Culture Development Center in Zugdidi;
- Dima Gogokhia, who Tsitlidze claims is government payed thug. Gogokhia has been charged with Pay Box theft and let out on conditional sentence according to Tsitlidze.
- Teona Kardava, an employee of the Representation of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia in Zugdidi. Tsitlidze claims that Kardava, who physically assaulted her, is directly accountable to brother-in-law of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Davit Patsatsia.
- Tsitlidze also named Ramaz Bakhbaia and Data Sartania as SSSG agents.
The video footage shows that the attackers were quite aggressive, physically assaulting not only the party representatives but also Zugdidi locals who had come to meet with the UNM members, and that the police seemed to have difficulty containing the situation for a while.
The MIA said it had started an investigation into the attack under Article 126 of the Criminal Code, which covers violence.
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