Adjara police officers have arrested Mamuka Jorbenadze, the Dean of the Faculty of Fine, Performing, and Film and Television Arts at Batumi University of Arts, on charges of gang violence.
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University students Guram Mikeladze, 20, Davit Gvianidze, 21, Giorgi Davitadze, 22, and Anri Kakabadze, 22, have been detained on the same charges.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the investigation revealed that on December 3 of this year, during a protest rally in Batumi, a group of protesters entered Batumi Art University to hang a banner near the rector’s office. Tea Tsaguria, a lecturer at the university, did not allow this, and Mamuka Jorbenadze verbally abused her.
“The investigation also revealed that Mamuka Jorbenadze, born in 1978, and his students later physically assaulted Tea Tsaguria’s wife, I.D., born in 1975, and her friend, I.N., born in 1977, inside the university building. The police arrested the accused based on a judge’s ruling,” the statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs reads.
According to the lawyer for the detainees, Davit Japaridze, the confrontation between the lecturer and the dean resulted from Tea Tsaguria’s agitation with the students in support of the Georgian Dream.
“She noticed that the lecturer was making political statements to the students and reprimanded him. In response, Tea Tsaguria called her husband, the governor of Old Batumi. As far as I know, and as eyewitnesses have told me, Mamuka Jorbenadze was attacked at the university. The students witnessed this, and a fight broke out,” the lawyer says.
The case is being investigated under Part 1 of Article 126 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to group violence and is punishable by a fine, community service, or up to two years of imprisonment.
