Court Rejects to Recognize 16 People as Victims in June 20 Case

The court refused to recognize 16 people, including Mako Gomuri, the young girl who lost her eye during the rally in front of Parliament, as victims in the June 20 case.

The decision was made by Tbilisi City Court judge, Nino Chakhnashvili.

The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association demanded victim’s status for 16 persons, eight of whom were journalists and eight were civilians. 

The lawyer of the GYLA says that the judge made an ungrounded decision.

The Prosecutor's Office earlier granted the victim’s status to 67 police officers and 4 protesters in the June 20 case.

Protests on Rustaveli Avenue started on June 20 in reaction to the visit of three Russian MPs to Georgia within the framework of a session of the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy held at the Parliament building, mostly due to the fact that Russian MP Sergei Gavrilov sat in the parliamentary Speaker’s chair, speaking in Russian, which many Georgians saw as the unwelcome reminder of the Russian occupation of the country's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). 

The protest turned into clashes with police after protesters tried to enter the parliament building. 

The so-called Gavrilov Night protest was dispersed by riot police with the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. 240 individuals, including 32 journalists and 80 law enforcers, were injured during a clash on Rustaveli Avenue on June 20-21. 

By Ana Dumbadze