Georgia: Activist Subjected To Torture Or Other Ill-Treatment For Protesting
Davit Katsarava is a leader of the Georgian anti-occupation movement "Strength in Unity," which conducts monitoring of the Russian occupation line (the border between Georgian-controlled territory and Russian-occupied regions of the country) since 2017. Alongside members of the movement, Katsarava regularly visits to document complaints from local population and observe Russian military movements. He has also been actively involved in the widespread protests against the bill “On transparency of foreign influence” that obliges civil society organizations that receive funding from foreign sources to register as “conductors of foreign influence.” The bill, which has since been signed into law, violates the rights to freedom of association and expression.
Davit Katsarava was apprehended by special police forces on 14 May in front of the Parliament while protesting peacefully against the parliament’s approval of the bill. In the video footage depicting his arrest, Davit Katsarava is seen standing among other participants of the rally and addressing the police in a peaceful manner, when several police officers broke off from the ranks, ran in his direction and dragged him away, all of them had their faces covered with black masks.
In a video interview given to Amnesty International on 28 May, he recounted in detail how he was detained, beaten and abused for more than an hour by members of special police lasting more than an hour:
"The beating and physical abuse started immediately, as soon as they captured me and dragged me outside the protest area. They took my bag, phone, personal belongings and started beating me mercilessly as they were yelling de-humanising insults. At some point, I heard someone giving an order to make a circle, and around 10 members of the special forces started beating me simultaneously while I was on the ground, handcuffed. After this they put me in the minivan where the insults, abuse and beatings continued. They were wearing special gloves with knuckle-dusters and aimed the blows at my face and head. At the third beating, they beat me with special cruelty, since one of them yelled: “ill him, kill him”. Then they started to choke me with the scarf I was wearing. I was sure I was going to be either killed or maimed. When they saw that my whole face and head were bleeding and I couldn’t open my left eye, they took out a phone and started filming me. Only after filming, they handed me to the police, who made me sign a notification of facing administrative proceedings, and called an emergency ambulance after.”
Davit had to undergo an urgent surgery for his broken facial bones and eye surgery and continues to suffer from the results of head concussion that prevent him from perform even nominal activities. He also has an impaired vision and permanent eye injuries.
The Special Investigation Service, a body charged with investigating abuses by police, started an investigation into the beating of Davit Katsarava that they qualified as ”exceeding official authority with the use of violence” (Article 333(3)(b) of the Criminal Code).
Police reportedly arrested 13 people during the 14 May protest, all of them are accused of petty hooliganism or disobedience to the police. According to the reports of Georgian human rights watchdogs, since the beginning of the protests on 15 April, approximately 300 people have been arrested for protesting against the law “On transparency of foreign influence”, more than 200 persons have been charged with administrative violations and fined for their participation in protests. About a dozen of protesters face criminal charges. Some 100 protestors have reported being subjected to beating and other forms of ill-treatment by the police, including several suffering serious injuries.