Despite mounting evidence of widespread and brutal police violence against peaceful protesters, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze maintains that the Internal Affairs Ministry operates at a higher standard than those in America and Europe.
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"I can show you videos of what's happening in New York, Rotterdam, Berlin, or Paris.
The American standard is lower than that; we want a higher standard than American and European. I don't like this standard because the Georgian Dream in the country since 2012 has established a higher standard than the American and European ones.
Therefore, I do not like these incidents very much, and once again I call on everyone to face any provocation with maximum patience. I don't like it, even though it is in line with American and European standards. Where there is a violation of the law, there will definitely be an appropriate response," said the Prime Minister at the briefing held on May 13.
"The only thing we would encourage you to do is to have an equal response to violence in both directions. On one hand, you have a person declared a hero who wanted to burn a policeman alive, and on the other hand, you have such a big reaction to hair pulling. have such a big reaction to hair pulling. There may have been more serious incidents, but when on one side there is an attempt to burn a policeman alive and you approve of it, and on the other side, you have such a reaction to ten times smaller incidents, it means that you are extremely biased," said Irakli Kobakhidze.
On May 13, the Internal Affairs Ministry arrested 23 participants in the rally against the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents near the Parliament building. They are accused of petty hooliganism and disobedience to police requests.
The media managed to capture several incidents of peaceful protesters being arrested by the police. In most cases, the policemen received an order from their superiors to make an arrest. Following this, representatives of the Internal Affairs Ministry suddenly moved to the side of the protesters, attacked a specific person, beat him in the face and head, and dragged him to the side of the special forces. It can be seen from the video footage that policemen, the Internal Affairs Ministry Special Tasks Department employees, and special forces kicked the face and head of the arrested person, who often fell to the ground.
The Public Defender's statement reveals that practically all individuals arrested on May 13 reported police violence and have injuries:
“22 out of 23 detainees report improper treatment by the police, with 16 of them requesting an investigation by the Special Investigation Service.”
The Special Investigative Service has initiated an investigation under Article 333, Part Three, Sub-Clause b of the Criminal Code, which implies exceeding official authority.
