Two activists campaigning against mining operations in central Georgia have said that they were attacked by unknown masked people.
Kote Abdushelishvili said he was attacked on Tuesday by three masked people in Tbilisi. He said he sustained minor injuries on his body and his head, and that eyewitnesses told him that his attackers were armed with batons.
Abdushelishvili said his attackers fled in a car with French licence plates. He said there were surveillance cameras nearby, but that he doubted the attack would be properly investigated.
Abdushelishvili is the second person protesting mining activities in the central Georgian village of Zodi to report being attacked.
On Sunday, a Facebook page run by local residents reported that Niko Gaprindashvili, was attacked by three titushki — Ukrainian slang used to refer to plainclothes security forces used to attack government critics.
Both Abdushelishvili and Gaprindashvili have been helping to organise protests against mining firm Georgian Manganese in Zodi.
Georgian Manganese has for years faced accusations of wreaking massive damage to villages near the town of Chiatura, destroying houses, village infrastructure, and causing fissures to appear in and around several villages.
Protesters against Georgian Manganese in the region have in the past resorted to extreme forms of protest to demand compensation for their destroyed homes, including hunger strikes and sewing shut their lips and eyes.
Protesters in Chiatura have also called on the government to step in to properly assess the damages to their villages or to intervene to mediate their disputes with Georgian Manganese.
[Read more: In Pictures | Living on the brink of collapse in Shukruti]
Residents of Zodi have warned that mining in the village threatens to cause irreparable damage. They have demanded that Georgian Manganese define the village’s residential zones and areas in which they intend to mine.
Another protest is scheduled to take place in the village on 30 June.
The attacks come amidst an ongoing campaign of attacks against government critics, civil society figures, and opposition politicians. Investigations into those attacks have yielded no results.
Abdushelishvili said that following the attack the police asked him if he was a member of any non-governmental organisation.
‘I am not a member of any non-governmental organisation. I am not a member of any political party’, he said, adding that he is only defending the village.
The Ministry of Interior stated that they had launched an investigation into the attack on Gaprindashvili on Monday on charges of group violence.
OC Media has contacted the ministry for comment on the attack on Abdushelishvili.
Read in Azerbaijani on Meydan TV.
