20-year-old Mate Devidze, accused of attacking policemen, has been imprisoned “as a preventive measure.”
The Prosecutor’s Office requested the use of the strictest measure of restraint against the detainee.
The defense did not agree to the prosecutor’s motion. According to the lawyers, Mate Devidze has not been convicted, and imprisonment should not be used as a preventive measure against him. The defense filed a petition for Devidze’s release on a 2,000 GEL bail. They add that Devidze’s coming to the rally had no political significance.
“He employed adequate self-defense reflexes in the moment the police said to arrest him. He did not resist the police and he did not show any aggression,” said the lawyer.
Mate Devidze is among the 16 persons who were detained by law enforcement officers during the ongoing rally on Melikishvili Avenue. He, along with others, was accused of disobeying the police officers and committing petty hooliganism, however, after the expiration of the 48-hour administrative detention, when he was supposed to be released from the isolation cell, the article was changed and now the investigation is underway for a possible criminal offense.
Devidze was charged under the first part of Article 353 of the Criminal Code, which refers to an attack on a police officer.
