Georgian civil society organisations claim personal belongings not returned to detained protesters

According to 12 Georgian civil society organisations, the police have not returned the items seized from demonstrators detained during the ongoing protests. These items include phones, headphones, a laptop, a bag, house and car keys, IDs, and wallets.

Some of the detainees have stated that law enforcement officers demanded their phone passwords, and when they refused, they were subjected to violence.

The civil society organisations emphasise that most detainees did not have their belongings confiscated in accordance with the legal procedure. Instead, some officers unlawfully seized the items or threw them away in retaliation, preventing the detainees from recovering their belongings.

In some cases, the victims were able to track the location of their phones and discovered that they were being used within the territories of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Parliament, and other state institutions. One phone was even activated outside Tbilisi, in the city of Gori.

The civil society organisations also claimed that the Special Investigation Service, responsible for investigating violent crimes and misconduct by public officials, has not appropriately responded to these incidents.