Georgia restricts detained 4 October organisers from making calls or receiving visitors
Georgia’s Justice Ministry has restricted the five organisers of the 4 October anti-government protest from making phone calls, meeting visitors, or communicating with each other until 9 December.
The ministry announced the decision on Sunday, saying it applied the restrictions based on a written request from the police.
The restrictions apply to detainees Paata Burchuladze, Murtaz Zodelava, Irakli Nadiradze, Paata Manjgaladze, and Lasha Beridze. All five of them face charges of calling for a violent change of constitutional order.
The authorities in Georgia have detained 46 people in the aftermath of the protest, which coincided with the country’s local elections on 4 October. That day, tens of thousands gathered on Tbilisi’s Liberty Square to attend an anti-government demonstration, branded previously as a ‘peaceful revolution’.
In the early evening, after hearing a call for male demonstrators to march toward the nearby presidential residence on Atoneli Street, a group of protesters attempted to storm the building. In response, police used tear gas, water cannons, and pepper spray. Protesters built barricades, and sporadic clashes around the residence continued late into the night.
The Georgian government has since called the unrest a coup attempt which it has blamed on domestic opposition they claim was aided by ‘foreign intelligence services’.
The Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into the 4 October events under four articles of the criminal code: attempted overthrow of the constitutional order, group violence, seizure or blocking of a strategic facility, and damage or destruction of property.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
