2022 Progress of the Investigation of Crimes Committed on July 5, 2021

Summary

In 2022, the investigation of crimes committed against media representatives and LGBTQI+ community members on July 5, 2021 were ineffective and not adequate. Despite several persons being subject to criminal convictions, an insufficient response by investigators and the Georgian authorities have continued to undermine the criminal justice proccess. Among other things, this includes non-initiation of the investigation into the state’s negligence and alleged state collussion by the state agency, lack of identification and inadequate punishment of the organisers of the mass attack on media representatives. The climate of impunity and hostility makes unsafe and risky the working environment for media, hinders journalists from performing their professional duties, and thus, prevents the public from being well informed.

photo credit: EMC 

Intro

The persistent lack of diligent investigations or prosecutions of those responsible for the violence against journalists and peaceful demonstrators at the Tbilisi Pride march on 5 July 2021

Revealing and punishing the organizers of the great violence of July 5 and 6, 2021 is still the responsibility of the authorities. One year ago, on July 5 and 6, 2021, 53 media representatives were injured as a result of a mass attack by homophobic and violent groups while performing their professional duties.

On July 11, Lekso Lashkarava, the operator of "TV First" was found dead in his home. The cameraman was severely beaten by hate groups during the July 5 attacks - he received a concussion, fractured facial bones and underwent surgery.

The investigation did not identify the organizers of the July 5 and 6 attacks for more than a year and, accordingly, they did not punish them. The part of those directly participating in the violence is not held accountable.

Context

In 2022, the investigation of crimes committed against media representatives and LGBTQI+ community members on July 5, 2021 was deemed “ineffective” by the Georgian Public Defender’s Office. Applications were also lodged with the European Court of Human Rights concerning the alleged violations of Article 3 (prohibition of torture), Article 10 (freedom of expression), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention, including in respect to the ineffectiveness of the investigation. The European Parliament also raised concerns about the Georgian authorities’ inadequate response to the attacks in its June 8 resolution, where it noted that it:

[…] strongly denounces the persistent lack of diligent investigations or prosecutions of those responsible for the violence against journalists and peaceful demonstrators at the Tbilisi Pride march on 5 July 2021; insists that impunity for the perpetrators of such acts cannot be tolerated under any circumstances, as they are in breach of Georgia’s national legislation and international and European commitments alike, and calls for effective investigations into the incidents of 5 July 2021; condemns the continued discrimination against LGBTQI+ persons; urges the Georgian authorities to fully implement human rights and anti-discrimination legislation in practice […].

Despite several persons being subject to criminal convictions, an insufficient response by investigators and the Georgian authorities have continued to undermine the criminal justice proccess. This includes a lack of effort to secure evidence, a lack of engagement with victims, and a lack of thoroughness in their investigations. However, for the purposes of this document, the following information can be qualified as the major drawbacks that remained in 2022, which have been repeatedly identified by the victims’ representatives and gone unanswered by the prosecuting authorities. In particular:

Non-initiation of the investigation into the state’s negligence and alleged state connivance

In 2022, the investigative authorities continued to reject the notion that the state’s negligent actions around July 5 should be investigated, despite the fact that they failed to adequately address the continued risk of violence and had prior knowledge of the threats raised by the participating hate groups. Despite this advanced knowledge, the authorities’ riot control operations failed to keep media representatives and members of the LGBTQI+ community safe. In addition to state negligence, investigative reporting by media agencies in June of 2022 found evidence to sugggest that the State Security Service may have played a direct role in the illegal actions conducted on July 5, 2021. Despite these allegations, neither the General Prosecutor’s Office nor the Special Investigative Service have launched an investigation.

National Court’s rulings and claims on moral damages

In 2022, the national court ruled on a number of cases related to the events of July 5 and convicted perpetrators for their involvement in the violence. However, despite overwhelming publicly available evidence and a recommendation by the Pubic Defender’s Office in September 2021 to bring charges against at least two individuals for their role in organzing the violence, the Prosecutor’s Office has yet to charge a single individual for organizing the attacks. Notably, in one of the judgements issued by the national court in 2022,  the presiding judge stated that video evidence from an Alt-Info channel broadcast in June 2021 shows organizers (Zurab Makharadze, Shota Martinenko, Irakli Martinenko, and Giorgi Kardava) announcing the creation of civil reaction groups who would be responsible for the coordination of counterdemonstrations on July 5, 2021. Furthermore, in the same broadcast, these individuals explicitly stated that violence in certain circumstances (in this case refering to the Tbilisi Pride March) was justified and that the prospect of punishment would not hinder them from perpetrating the violence.

In 2022, some victims also applied to the Tbilisi City Court with a claim seeking reimbursement for moral damage caused by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia on July 5, 20212021 These proceedings are still ongoing.

Lack of identification and punishment of the organizers

Despite the national court’s above mentioned assessment, charges have never been introduced against the organizers of the July 5 violence. In addition, in some cases, there is also lack of identification and punishment of principals. Based on the comment of Minister of Internal Affairs Gomelauri in the days after the attack that “the investigation, first of all, starts with principal and then goes up [to the organizers],”  it was expected that the investigative authorities was in the process of gathering sufficient evidence to bring charges against the organizers of the attack. However, as of the end of 2022, the prosecuting authorities had failed to do so, which has raised a sense of impunity for those who organized and latterly executed the crimes of July 5. The investigations conducted thus far have not been aimed at determining the scope of responsibility of leaders of the hate groups (including representatives of clergy), despite the fact that strong public evidence exists confirming their criminality.

Conclusion

The impunity syndrome further worsened the media environment in Georgia: Threats, harassment, illegal wiretapping and surveillance, pressure, discrimination, discrediting, physical attack, selective admission of journalists to briefings - this is a small list of violations.