Politics Georgia: Opposition members jailed
Two opposition politicians have been jailed in the wake of the pro-European protests in Georgia. According to media reports, the court in the capital Tbilisi ordered two months' pre-trial detention for Aleko Elissashvili, one of the leaders of the Strong Georgia party alliance. The politician Nika Gvaramiya was sentenced to twelve days in custody. He is one of the heads of the pro-European party alliance Coalition for Change.
06.12.2024, 17:58
SDA
According to the Ministry of the Interior, Elissashvili is said to have attacked a member of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The human rights commissioner in the South Caucasus republic, Levan Iosseliani, on the other hand, had criticized the violence used by police against Elissashvili as disproportionate. By Thursday, his office said it had spoken to 260 detainees, 188 of whom had complained of ill-treatment.
Gvaramiya was reportedly arrested during a search of the opposition office on Wednesday on charges including minor hooliganism. Videos of the arrest were circulated showing him being carried away by police officers. According to his lawyer, he briefly lost consciousness due to breathing problems following a blow.
Protests continue
The Interior Ministry announced that Molotov cocktails, firearms, cash, helmets and breathing masks were among the items confiscated during the searches of opposition offices and activists' homes. Georgia is in crisis. The pro-European protests continued for the ninth day in a row and are now also taking place in smaller towns. There were repeated clashes, with police and participants sometimes engaging in street battles. Participants are now no longer just demonstrating against the country's departure from the EU course and police violence, but also for the release of those arrested.
