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Incident type: Damage to equipment

Damage to equipment

At a peaceful protest near Tbilisi Mall 11 journalists were unlawfully prevented from doing their jobs

On February 2, at a peaceful protest near Tbilisi Mall 11 journalists were unlawfully prevented from doing their jobs.

  • TV Pirveli cameraman Niko Kokaia was injured while filming the arrest of a protester by the police. As a result, he had to be hospitalized. Medical examinations confirmed that he suffered a concussion due to the injuries sustained at the protest.
  • A video published by media outlet “April” shows a police officer pushing their journalist, Nata Uridia, and obstructing her work. In the footage, Nata Uridia can be heard identifying herself as a journalist while addressing a masked police officer.
  • During the arrest of protesters, police also interfered with another “April” journalist, Vakho Kareli, demanding that both him and Nata Uridia leave the area. In the same incident, an officer was seen pushing Uridia.
  • Radio Free Liberty’s journalist Gela Bochkashvili was threatened by a police officer. A video published by the media captures a masked officer telling him, “Move that camera away, or I’ll break your head.”
  • TV Mtavari Arkhi’s journalist Dea Mamiseishvili released a video showing a police officer verbally and physically assaulting her.
  • Radio Marneuli journalist Vladimir Chkhitunidze was filming the arrest of an opposition politician when he was stopped by Special Tasks Department (STD) officers, who forcibly moved him onto the sidewalk.
  • TV Pirveli’s camera crew was verbally and physically assaulted by police officers. According to the channel, their broadcasting equipment was also damaged.
  • TV Pirveli also reported that their journalist, Khatia Samkharadze, was attacked by Mirza Kezevadze, the deputy head of the Special Tasks Department. According to media reports, Kezevadze seized and damaged the journalist’s phone.
  • Members of the Special Tasks Department also attempted to take a microphone from Formula TV journalist Giorgi Kvijinadze, obstructing his work, when he was on air.
  • A masked police officer interfered with Guria News’ journalists while they were covering the protest. A video shows the officer pushing away the camera.
  • The police obstructed MediaChecker journalist Ninia Kakabadze from doing her job. A police officer also pushed her.

Media Advocacy Coalition and the Charter of Journalistic Ethics have responded to the injuries sustained by media representatives while covering the peaceful protest near “Tbilisi Mall.” The organizations are calling on international bodies to “properly assess the dangerous actions and systemic violence by law enforcement officers who have acted beyond the framework of the Constitution and the law.“

On November 29-30, During the coverage of the protests 9 members of the media were detained, injured, or obstructed in their professional work

  • On November 30, TV Pirveli journalist Mariam Gafrindashvili was seriously injured. According to reports, she lost consciousness several times. The video footage released by the station, shows her bleeding from the forehead before being taken to a medical facility.
  • On November 30, TV Pirveli cameraman Papuna Khachidze was physically injured during the protest.
  • On the same day, the riot police attacked Ana Mskhaladze, a journalist from the online outlet Publika, while she was performing her professional duties. The officer also took her phone. Mskhaladze explained that she was recording the detention of citizens when the officer knocked the phone out of her hand. When she identified herself as a journalist and bent down to retrieve it, she was struck in the head. The officer then took the phone and disappeared. Her phone is still missing.
  • During the protest near the Parliament building on November 30, special forces attacked RealPolitika journalist Aka Zarqua. ‘About ten special forces officers surrounded and beat me until they got tired. I won’t even mention the verbal abuse. At one point, their commander arrived and tried to shove my press badge into my mouth. Fortunately, they didn’t manage to seize my phone, and the live stream remains on RealPolitika’s page. The video captures one instance of the physical assault, though my phone was in my pocket during the second, so it wasn’t recorded. They also confiscated my respirator. Thankfully, I was wearing a helmet,’ Zarqua wrote.
  • Photographer Giorgi Gamgebeli was also physically assaulted on November 30. He was hospitalized, and his equipment was confiscated and destroyed. ‘They broke my leg, beat me, ripped the camera from me, and took it away. People barely managed to drag me to an ambulance,’ the photographer reported.
  • On November 30, Formula TV reported that special forces attacked a journalist Nutsa Bakhutashvili and her cameraman Irakli Bartava. According to the network, Bakhutashvili sustained a concussion.
  • The cameramen of Georgian Public Broadcaster First Channel Davit Bejanishvili was injured during the protest on November 30.
  • According to Paper Kartuli, on November 30, a masked man, presumably a law enforcement officer, struck journalist Fyodor Khudokormov with his hand.