Georgian rights official condemns use of 'torture' against protesters

By Felix Light

Georgia's public ombudsman accused police on Tuesday of inflicting torture on people arrested during six days of big street protests against the government's decision to suspend talks on joining the European Union.

Levan Ioseliani, whose role is to defend citizens' rights, said he and his officials had met people subjected to "the harshest treatment" by police.

"In most cases, they have received serious injuries in the face, eye and head area, which practically excludes even the possibility that the police used the necessary, proportional force against them every time," he said in a statement.

"The location, character, and degree of the injuries create a credible impression that the police use violent methods against citizens in order to punish them. Intentional, severe violence for the purpose of punishment constitutes an act of torture."

Reuters requested comment from the government and the ruling Georgian Dream party but none was immediately available.

The United States has previously condemned the use of "excessive force" against protesters. But Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has repeatedly praised the police for their response, saying they have shown greater professionalism than their counterparts in Europe and the U.S.

The country of 3.7 million people has been gripped by crisis since last Thursday, when Georgian Dream announced it was halting the EU talks and renouncing any funding from the bloc until 2028.

Georgia has been one of the former Soviet Union's most pro-Western successor states, but critics accuse the government of abandoning that course and steering it closer towards Russia. The crisis is being closely watched in Moscow, Brussels and Washington.

Demonstrators gathered on Tuesday evening for a sixth successive night of protests, with no end in sight to the standoff.

In a setback for critics of the government, Georgia's constitutional court on Tuesday declined to hear a lawsuit seeking to annul the results of an Oct. 26 parliamentary election. It was officially won by Georgian Dream with almost 54% of the vote but the opposition says it was tainted by fraud.

Prime minister Kobakhidze accused the demonstrators of trying to organise a repeat of the 2014 "Maidan" revolution that ousted a pro-Russian president in Ukraine, but said it was "already over". He said the organisers had tried to grab power and would be brought to justice.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of the ruling party who backs the protests, told Reuters this week that there was no attempted revolution, and the protests' sole demand was to re-run the election.

The crisis follows months of tensions and a souring of Georgia's relations with the West as the ruling party has pushed through laws that critics say are draconian and Russian-inspired. The government says they are necessary to defend the country's sovereignty.