Interior Ministry official rejects “misinformation” on excessive use of force against transparency bill demonstrators

Teimuraz Kupatadze, the Head of the Central Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on Wednesday rejected what he called a “huge amount of disinformation” in local media on excessive use of force and illegal actions from law enforcement officers against the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence demonstrators in Tbilisi.

Kupatadze said the police were applying “international practices of police measures” used in “leading European countries and in the United States on crowd management during gatherings and demonstrations and the use of special means established by law”.

We would like to note that the police always act in accordance with international standards during gatherings and demonstrations. Instructions developed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on regulating the management of gatherings and demonstrations, are in full compliance with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights guidelines”, he said.

Therefore, special measures are being implemented by the law enforcement officers in accordance with internationally recognised standards, coherently and in response to the developments. Considering the mentioned, police acted in a similar way throughout the recent actions”, he added.

The official stated representatives of the Special Tasks Department under the Ministry, within the cooperation with donor organisations, had participated in “various international trainings”, were trained in accordance with international standards and had undergone international courses in Georgia, Germany, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Turkey.

He said employees of the Ministry were trained in response to crisis situations and negotiations, effective management of gatherings and demonstrations and use of force to ensure public order during public demonstrations, and added “special techniques, equipment and special means” administered by the representatives of the Ministry were in “full compliance of international standards and most of them are purchased in different European states”.

[...] progressive world is unanimous with regard to the fact that the main task of police is maintaining the rule of law”, the official told the media while showing a video footage he said “confirmed” that “in all states, police have the right to act in accordance with the law and within the frames of their mandate and to use the most severe and often unacceptable measures for society”.

[T]he recent gatherings and demonstrations [against the bill] in Georgia, in particular in Tbilisi, have repeatedly exceeded the limits defined by the legislation on gatherings and demonstrations. We witnessed storming of the building of the legislative body, an attempt to picket the Parliament, and multiple cases of violence against law enforcement officers”, he added.

The Head of Department said his European colleagues “would agree that proportional force and rather lenient actions” had been used by the domestic law enforcement against the rallies.

Kupatadze also warned participants and organisers of the rally that law enforcement would work to “foil violent actions of rally participants” while applying “strict measures” that were “similar to those practised in the US and leading countries of Europe”.