Police in Georgia have released without charge two supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party who were filmed attacking protesters outside the party’s offices in Tbilisi.
The two men, identified by local media as Zaza Mamaladze and Irakli Buachidze, took part in the attacks on protesters outside Georgian Dream’s local elections HQ in Tbilisi on Monday evening.
OC Media filmed Mamaladze striking a woman, Keti Alaverdashvili, in the face as well as attacking other protesters. Buachidze was caught on video taking a police officer’s baton and beating protesters with it. A separate video shows Buachidze begging a police officer to give him his handcuffs.
On Monday, dozens of supporters of Georgian Dream repeatedly attacked protesters and journalists, including with bottles and stones, resulting in several injuries. Police who were on the scene attempted to separate the two groups, but did not make any arrests at the time.
Announcing Mamaladze and Buachidze’s release in a press briefing on Friday, Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said their victims had not cooperated. ‘Based on their testimonies, it became impossible to hold the two individuals arrested on charges of gang violence accountable’, Darakhvelidze claimed.
Following the briefing, Alaverdashvili hit back at claims she and other affected protesters did not cooperate with the investigation.
‘Yesterday, the lawyer and I were questioned for four hours and went through every detail. I told them that I had collected all the materials on Zaza Mamaladze (or Mangoshvili) and that we would go home and bring them’, Alaverdashvili wrote on Facebook.
Mamaladze and Buachidze were among just three people arrested over Monday’s events.
On Friday, prosecutors requested that the third, 23-year-old Megi Diasamidze, be released on bail for allegedly painting the words ‘Russian Dream’ on an election poster of Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze. She faces a possible fine or up to five years in prison if convicted on charges of damage to another’s property.
She joins dozens of other anti-government protesters arrested since daily demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend Georgia’s EU membership bid began in November 2024.
Multiple lawyers and human rights advocates have emphasised that Diasmidze’s actions were ‘neither a crime nor a violation of the law’, noting that at most, defacing an election poster could be considered an administrative offence.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
