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SJC Warns of ‘Normalized’ Police Brutality, Calls for Investigation and Accountability

The Social Justice Center (SJC), a local human rights watchdog said the “excessive use of force by police officers” and the “brutal retaliation” against demonstrators had become a “normalized practice” in recent protests. The SJC calls on both the Special Investigation Service (SIS) and the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate cases of police brutality, with particular reference to the potential accountability of senior officers, including Zviad Kharazishvili. The organization has also called on the Ministry of Interior to issue a clear statement outlining the reasons for the arrests of demonstrators and for the immediate release of those currently detained.

In the statement issued following the February 2 protest near the Tbilisi Mall, the SJC said that the violent actions taken by police officers were not aimed at upholding the law, but rather at punishing and retaliating against citizens. The watchdog raised concerns about what it describes as “particularly alarming” incidents in which police officers targeted citizens based on their political affiliation or other factors. The watchdog warns that such actions foster a “dangerous environment for hate crime” and “violate the principles of police neutrality.”

Large numbers of police were deployed in the area cordoning off both sides of the highway on February 2. Most of the police wore masks and their identities could not be confirmed. The SCJ stressed that masked law enforcement officers, who cannot even be identified, “are a gross violation of human rights standards” and noted that they enjoy “total impunity”.

The watchdog cited several footages that went viral on social networks and in media, showing police brutality against peaceful demonstrators, including the beating of detainees during detention and after, in police vans, and in particular video footage of the head of the Special Tasks Department, Zviad Kharazishvili (“Khareba”), himself beating a protester.

The statement criticized the government’s recent criminalization of roadblocks, a move that the SJC says undermines the basic principles of the rule of law. The watchdog argues that the government’s blanket prohibition of roadblocks, which doesn’t take into account the number of participants in a rally or the specific circumstances of protests, violates both the Georgian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The SJC noted that not a single police officer has been punished or investigated for their role in the violent suppression of the protests since November 28.

31 people were arrested at the February 2 protest, many of them reportedly beaten by the police. Four people were reportedly hospitalized with concussions. Public Defender Levan Ioseliani expressed his concern, stating, “The facts of improper treatment and excessive use of force by the police against citizens, journalists and politicians, which are reflected in publicly circulated video footage, are deeply disturbing.”

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