According to the Public Defender's assessment, at the time of the announcement of the warning by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in the evening hours of March 7, the rally had a peaceful character and there were no grounds for stopping it and using force against it, the Public Defender, Levan Ioseliani, stated at a briefing, where he presented the report regarding the March 7-9 rallies.
According to him, individual necessary and proportionate measures should have been taken against those participants of the rally from whom there were cases of violence, however, the law enforcement officers started using special means against the participants of the gathering, including peaceful demonstrators, which is against the standard of necessary and proportionate intervention.
According to Ioseliani, the law enforcers actively resorted to the practice of administratively mass arresting the participants of the gathering at the rallies, and in some cases, such a measure was not one to prevent the ongoing offense.
"The violent actions started by a part of the people gathered at the back entrance of the Parliament was the basis for the unjustified dispersing of the entire gathering by law enforcement officers on March 8 as well. After some of the participants of the gathering started to damage the building on the back entrance side of the Parliament of Georgia, breaking the windows, the police started to take appropriate response, although the said use of force continued in a completely illegitimate manner against the peaceful participants of the gathering standing in front of the Parliament of Georgia.
As a result of the measures used by the law enforcement officers in order to manage the gathering, the media representatives who were on duty at the scene were also injured. Information was spread about their activities being hindered, while during the rally, the legislation places them under special protection.
At the same time, the law enforcers actively resorted to the practice of administratively mass arresting the participants of the gathering. The published footage shows that in individual cases such a measure was not a measure to prevent the ongoing crime. Therefore, it could not meet the requirement of necessity and had the appearance of an unjustified interference with the right," Ioseliani said.
In addition, as the Public Defender states, those arrested at the rally were injured in several cases. According to him, in the case of several detainees, the Office of the Public Defender applied to the Special Investigation Service to start an investigation.
"On March 7-9, parallel to the rallies, the Public Defender and trustees visited 96 arrested persons. Trustees work intensively not only in Tbilisi, but also in the regions in order to meet with detainees. At the same time, several detained persons appealed to the apparatus with the request to study the legality of their detention. Detainees indicate the harsh form of detention and in some cases, injuries. In the case of several detainees, with their own wish and consent, the Office of the Public Defender applied to the Special Investigation Service to start an investigation. The case of Zurab Japaridze is particularly noteworthy. According to him and the witness, several representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs physically assaulted him, beat him with hands, feet, batons. There is damage to the head and neck. Also in the area of the wrist," Ioseliani said.
