Kutaisi Court Fines Two for Attacking Publicist Tako Charkviani
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, December 3
Kutaisi City Court ordered Gel 700 fines for two people, Giorgi Kervalishvili and Davit Baidarashvili, who attacked publicist in opposition Tako Charkviani and her husband in the airport, allegedly for political grounds.
The third detainee, Davit Machavariani, who is the employee of Tbilisi City Council, was not found guilty.
The detainees claim they did not start the fight at the airport but just wanted to defuse the conflict. They do not know what the cause of the conflict was.
They rule out persecution on political grounds. They are going to appeal against the court’s decision.
Charkviani, member of the United Opposition, whose presidential candidate came the second in the November 28 runoff, explains that she accompanied her son in the airport when three persons approached her and congratulated with the failure in the elections.
“After this these people started physically attacking my husband, I have not seen anything like this before. It was a gang,” she added.
The police detained the men soon after the incident. An investigation is underway under Article 126 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, involving violence and Article 166 of Administrative Offences.
Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo) released a statement regarding their detained employee, saying he was trying to defuse the situation and has nothing to do with the violence.
The statement reads that from the footage obtained by the police from the airport surveillance cameras, it is seen that Machavariani is not assaulting anyone.
“Machavariani has been working on different positions in Tbilisi Sakrebulo since 2007. He is a balanced, calm and decent person. We explicitly declare that the decision will be made only in accordance with the law and not from the requirements of private individuals,” the statement reads.
Former presidential candidate of the United Opposition GrigolVashadze also commented on the incident, saying “the attack was managed by the government, the State Security Service and criminals.”
"I would like to tell you that nobody is afraid of you. I would like to tell you that we will implement all the plans set by us. We will not allow you to intimidateour supporters and our voters. We will bring all such facts to non-governmental organizations and the international community. Believe me, I have the opportunity to do it," Vashadze said.
