Prosecutor's Office Questions Interior Minister Gakharia

Giorgi Gakharia, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, has been questioned by the General Prosecutor's Office in connection with June 20-21 developments in front of the parliament in Tbilisi.

Gakharia told journalists after leaving the building of the Prosecutor's Office that he answered all the questions of the prosecutor.

“As you know, the Prosecutor’s Office investigates possible misconduct. There were a lot of questions and consequently, I answered all of them”, the Minister said.

He also stressed that now it is important for the investigation to identify the organizers who triggered “an organized and violent attack” on the Parliament building.

“Politicians, concrete persons, made the peaceful rally violent, which was followed by organized, violent, systemic storm on the parliament of Georgia”, Gakharia said.

He touched upon the dispersal of anti-occupation rally in front of the Parliament and again explained that “law enforcers were forced to take legitimate measures to prevent the crowd from storming Parliament”.  

According to the Minister, the main issue for him and the entire government of Georgia is to take care of those citizens who were injured during the dispersal of the rally. 

The riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas against the participants of the demonstration on June 20 night, after the part of the protestors tried to forcefully enter the Parliament building. Two nonviolent young demonstrators lost an eye due to rubber bullets, while a total of 240 people, including 80 police officers, were hospitalized. 

Since June 20, the peaceful demonstrations are held every day in Georgia's capital Tbilisi. The protestors have one main demand: resignation of Gakharia for excessive use of force and violating the nonviolent demonstrator's rights during the rally. 

However, the Minister does not intend to resign.

Related Story: Interior Minister: I Issued All Orders on the Night of June 20

By Ana Dumbadze