The Public Defender of Georgia Levan Ioseliani condemns the physical attack on Misha Mshvildadze, one of the founders of opposition-minded Formula TV.
Ioseliani urges the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia to transfer the case from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Special Investigation Service for further investigation, to determine whether there was any persecution with physical violence for expressing an opinion.
The Public Defender calls on the investigative agency to take appropriate steps to identify the responsible persons; All investigative and procedural actions should be carried out quickly and fully, video recordings should be obtained, witnesses should be interviewed, medical examination and other procedures should be conducted.
On June 27, Misha Mshvildadze, one of the founders of Formula, was attacked and physically assaulted by an unknown person.
According to Formula TV, the attack took place at the entrance of one of the shopping centers.
“An unknown person attacked me at the entrance of Carrefour. I was wearing headphones, I didn’t even hear him calling me anything before. I just passed by, two people were standing, I suspect that one of them chased me and punched me in the face right at the entrance. Then I fell on the stairs, I couldn’t get up, and he tried to hit me from behind.
There is a camera at the entrance. There must be cameras in the supermarket inside as well… they probably ran away because then the security arrived. It lasted about 15-20 seconds. When I heard a shout, I took off the headphones, he mentioned the patriarch, “How do you curse the patriarch”, or something like that”, Mshvildadze said on Formula.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has started an investigation into the attack on Misha Mshvildadze under Article 126, which pertains to violence.
