Friday, October 19, 2007, #200 (1467)

Four political protestors jailed on public disorder charges
By Ana Datiashvili

A Tbilisi court sentenced four young political activists to 20 days in prison on Thursday. They were convicted of public disorder offences arising from a small protest two days earlier.

Police detained five demonstrators on Tuesday, as they attempted to block traffic on central Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue. One of the detainees was released the same day.

The activists represent a new public movement, Youth Against Violence, recently created by youth organizations from universities, NGOs and opposition political parties.

Irakli Tsnobiladze, a lawyer for one of the protestors, said the young men were charged with hooliganism and violating public order.

The rally began early on Tuesday, at a meeting of political opposition parties in the Chess Palace. Afterwards, according to Rustavi 2, about 800 demonstrators began a peaceful march towards the parliament building.

Police arrested the five youth movement protestors after they refused to move off the road.

Rally participant Zaza Gabunia told the Messenger several police cars blocked the road before arresting the protestors.

“I saw quite clearly these boys had their hands up and there was no physical resistance from them,” Gabunia said on Wednesday.

Gabunia promised his fellow activists would demonstrate to demand authorities release the four.

“Government will not be able to destroy the desire to fight against injustice with arrests like these,” Youth Against Violence member Jaba Jishkariani told journalists.
Three of the four arrested activists were from the NGO Equality Institute. The fourth is a member of the youth wing of the oppositional Republican Party.

Christina Tashkevich contributed to this article.



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