First Georgian protester criminally charged with blocking road remanded into custody
The first Georgian protester to be criminally charged with ‘repeatedly blocking the road’ during protests, 61-year-old Zurab Menteshashvili, has been remanded into custody. If found guilty, he could face up to a year in prison.
Menteshashvili was placed in pre-trial detention on Monday evening by Tbilisi City Court Judge Mzia Garshaulishvili.
According to independent media outlet Netgazeti, Menteshashvili was arrested on 31 October. The Interior Ministry announced that he was charged with repeatedly blocking the road the following day.
In October, Georgia’s Parliament, entirely controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party and its satellite groups, fast-tracked legislative amendments introducing increased punishments in several cases, including covering one’s face during a protest (with a mask or any other means); possessing tear gas, nerve agents, or poisonous substances at a protest; and partially or fully blocking a road if police decide it is unnecessary based on the number of demonstrators.
In all such cases, first-time offences will be punishable by up to 15 days of administrative detention, which previously was just an alternative measure to a fine. Repeat offences will be treated as criminal acts, punishable by up to one year in prison, and subsequent repeat offences by up to two years.
Among those recently detained was Aza Chilachava, a 71-year-old IDP from Abkhazia, who was detained on Sunday night, according to the opposition-leaning Formula.
Chilachava stood trial on Monday evening at Tbilisi City Court, where she was handed a single day of detention. As she was detained the day prior, she was released two hours after her court session.
Formula cited Chilachava’s lawyer, Mariam Pataridze, as saying that her client had decided to go on hunger strike following her detention. Pataridze also claimed that the police ‘robbed’ Chilachava of ₾2.55 ($1) during her arrest.
‘I also imagine how a displaced person spends her first right in the detention centre, which, as she says, was bigger than her apartment’, Pataridze said.
Chilachava was previously stopped by police on 19 October for having a mask with her, but was released with a verbal warning — which activists and lawyers say does not constitute a charge.
Georgian police also briefly stopped Mediachecker journalist Ninia Kakabadze on Monday as she was covering the daily protests that have been taking place on Rustaveli Avenue for almost a year. Kakabadze was wearing a press badge at the time of her arrest, and was released within an hour.
However, she will stand trial on Tuesday on charges of blocking the road.
As of publication, over 100 protesters have already been detained on administrative charges of either blocking roads or wearing face coverings during protests.
Yousef Bardouka
