The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) responds to the arrest of Lela Argvliani, Denis Aliokhin and Aza Shengelia who participated in the rally of IDPs on January 28. The arrest was performed by the officers of the Vake-Saburtalo Department of MIA Tbilisi Headquarters. GYLA criticizes the action of the police officers, who prevented GYLA lawyers from defending the arrested.

Under Article 18 of Constitution of Georgia, “an arrested or detained person shall be informed about his/her rights and the grounds for restriction of his/her liberty upon his/her arrest or detention. The arrested or detained person may request for the assistance of a defendant upon his/her arrest or detention, the request shall be met”.

As the arrested IDPs state, they were tricked by police officers dressed like civilians and claiming that the IDPs had to sign an act of agreement with the local government; while in fact all three were taken to the Vake-Saburtalo Department of MIA Tbilisi Headquarters with unknown status. Family members and relatives of the detained were not aware of their whereabouts for four hours, as means of communication and movement were restricted to Lela Argvliani, Aza Shengelaia and Denis Aliokhin.

Officers of the Vake-Saburtalo Department of MIA Tbilisi Headquarters deliberately misled GYLA lawyer and purposefully hid the fact of arresting IDPs and their whereabouts from the lawyer, although all three were at the Vake-Saburtalo department at the time the lawyer got there. This way the police officers hindered constitutional right of the arrested to use the assistance of a defendant.

“It is regrettable if transparency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is limited to construction of glass buildings only” – declared Tamar Khidasheli, GYLA chairperson. “We intend to provide information regarding facts of excessive use of power by police officers to the Committee for Prevention of Torture of EU, which is planning a visit to Georgia in the coming days”.

GYLA calls on to the General Inspection of MIA to investigate actions of the officers of the Vake-Saburtalo Department of MIA Tbilisi Headquarters and utilize legal measures against the offenders.