Three Policemen Detained for Physical and Verbal Abuse of Journalist

According to the press service of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, three police officers have been arrested on charges of physical and verbal abuse of Iberia TV journalist Giorgi Gasviani.

The policemen are now in pre-trial detention. One of them is now in fact a former policeman, who has already been fired for the alleged beating of Gasviani.

The incident took place on December 18, in Borjomi, south-central Georgia, when Gavsviani’s car slid off an icy road as he was on his way to a human rights seminar.

According to the journalist, Borjomi Central Department policeman Zaza Khutsishvili and two othes, all of whom were drunk, beat him and threatened him with a firearm.

After the incident, Gasviani immediately contacted the Borjomi police department and submitted himself for examination by local hospital doctors.

An investigation was launched under Article 126 of Georgia’s Criminal Code.

By Thea Morrison