Protests, arrests and once again, protests – the Marneuli region of Georgia, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis, has reminded us over the past few days of a frightened ant hill. On October 8, Election Day, there were instances of civil unrest at voting station No. 48, in the village Qizilajlo.
(https://www.meydan.tv/ru/article/azerbajdzhanskie-osobennosti-gruzinskih-vyborov/).
Young people threw stones at the police and attempted to break through to the ballot box. According to the opposition, they did so in order to hinder electoral fraud, according to law enforcement agents, in order to steal ballots. Even special operations units had to be called in.
Special Ops at Dawn
Five days later, at dawn on October 13, special operations troops in full gear, with weapons in hand, detained suspects in the attacks on the police: six, young, United National Movement activists of the ages 18 to 24 were taken straight from their beds and, after being handcuffed and read the accusations against them, they were carted off who knows where. The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced: the decision to take these individuals into custody by force was made on the basis of a court order. The names of the detainees have not been announced by the police, who limit themselves to merely the first letters of their names and surnames.
A spontaneous protest took place outside the police building in Marneuli. Relatives and neighbors of the detainees tried to discover where the young people were being held. They managed to do so only after leaders of the opposition National Movement arrived from Tbilisi. After discussions with the leadership of the local police it was found out that the special ops were performed not by Marneuli law-enforcement agents, but rather by the Kvemo-Kartli regional police headquarters. There, in turn, the police refused to provide any comments regarding the events in the village of Kizilajlo.
Reactions to Detention by Force
The non-governmental sector reacted to the detentions. According to Mikhail Benidze, the leader of the NGO Fair Elections, these events pose the question: how necessary was it to perform such a large-scale special operation. And in general, “detention in holding cells” has become a very negative phenomenon in Georgia. Political expert Giorgi Gobronidze agrees with him. The expert is surprised that six young people, in the case that they did commit a crime, could not be detained by local police. “People armed to the teeth and in full military gear burst into the home and detain some activists. I got the impression that they were arresting members of the Islamic State there, or of some sort of armed and very dangerous group”, says Gobronidze. Relatives of the detainees confirm that special operations troops kicked in the doors, broke furniture, threatened people with weapons, and beat several people. Some even accused the law-enforcement officers of stealing money and valuable items. The Minister of Internal Affairs (MVD) responded to the accusations. According to Georgi Mgebrishvili, no sort of violence was utilized in the course of the special operation and the detainees are common criminals who raised their hands in violence towards police officers. The head of the MVD says this is something he will not allow anyone to do. Ahmed Imamkuliev, majority deputy candidate from the United National Movement announced that these events are nothing but a “special operation to frighten voters”. A second round of voting is slated for Marneuli Municipality and Imamkuliev is sure that the government is afraid of him achieving victory. According to political expert Gela Vasadze, on the one hand, there were clashes with the police, people were injured, and this episode must, of course, be investigated, but there’s a big “but”. “Carrying out a special operation at night, bursting into homes, carrying people away without giving them the opportunity to contact a lawyer – this is illegal, and at a minimum, a major police official needs to answer for this. Who specifically? Whoever it was that gave the order, rather than calmly summoning these individuals for questioning and looking into the situation, whoever gave the order to carry out a special operation against people who perhaps the only ones in all of Georgia who defended their votes not after voting was concluded, but while it was ongoing.”
The political expert adds further: the government’s logic is understandable – such people are particularly dangerous for the system, and for the second round of votes that are right around the corner.
At this very moment, the court hearings are underway. According to lawyers, the detainees have not admitted guilt and up till now have used their right to remain silent. Moreover, three of the six show clear signs of a beating. The defense is not ruling out the possibility that physical violence was used against them during questioning.
It is on this basis that protests are taking place in Marneuli. Relatives and neighbors of the detainees are demanding that the Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, quickly look into what happened. It should be noted that, the head of government, who is also the official leader of the ruling party, Georgian Dream, made it known that those participating in civil unrest on Election Day will not be shown leniency.
According to expert opinion, the situation that’s taken shape in the Marneuli Region on the eve of the second round of elections in the majority vote system, might be utilized by used by the main political players for their own ends. Mikhail Saakashvili’s party, United National Movement, is trying to present what happened as an attempt to frighten voters. While the ruling party has clearly demonstrated what will happen if opponents try to resort to aggressive forms of protest.
