The leader of one of Georgia’s four main opposition parties has been detained by police after being beaten unconscious in the capital Tbilisi, his party said on Wednesday, amid reports of police raids on other opposition parties.
The opposition Coalition for Change party published a video on X showing Nika Gvaramia, the party’s leader, being carried by the arms and legs by several men down some steps.
The party said that Gvaramia, a 48-year-old lawyer turned politician, had been “thrown into a detention car as he was physically assaulted and unconscious”.
The police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, and there was no immediate response to the assertion by the authorities, who have faced six nights of protests against a government decision to suspend talks on the country joining the European Union.
Reuters could not independently verify whether Gvaramia had been beaten or not, but he appeared to not be moving as he was carried down the steps in the video released by his party.
The government’s decision to suspend EU talks has plunged the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people into a political crisis and the authorities claim to have thwarted an attempted “revolution.”
A spokeswoman for Coalition for Change said on X that several other party members had been detained alongside Gvaramia.
A spokesperson for the United National Movement (UNM), another opposition party, told Reuters police on Wednesday had also raided its Tbilisi offices. The spokesperson said the raid had been carried out without a warrant and that nobody had been detained.
Separately, the Interpress news agency said that two members of another opposition party, Strong Georgia, had been detained by the police.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has repeatedly praised the police for their response to the protests.
Georgia’s public ombudsman, a former opposition politician, accused the police on Tuesday of harshly mistreating people detained during demonstrations, something their treatment amounted to torture.
Nika Gvaramia, leader of Ahali opposition party is seen being violently detained by masked Police as he was trying to inquire reasons for raiding the Droa party pic.twitter.com/rkYfY8A0vw
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