Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze announced today that two of the three individuals detained on September 8–9 in connection with an incident on Melikishvili Avenue have been released.
Darakhvelidze explained that the affected activists refused to cooperate with investigators, making it impossible to pursue charges of group violence against the two detainees. “Accordingly, they were released from detention today,” he stated at the briefing.
Regarding the third detainee, activist Megi Diasamidze, who is accused of damaging an election banner, the Prosecutor General’s Office has petitioned the court to set bail as a preventive measure. Darakhvelidze noted that Diasamidze is expected to be released from custody within hours.
On September 8, a confrontation broke out near the election office of Kakha Kaladze (Georgian Dream’s mayoral candidate) on Melikishvili Avenue between anti-government protesters and groups reportedly mobilized in support of the ruling party.
The next day, September 9, protesters defaced Kaladze campaign posters. Among the actions: one poster was splashed with yogurt; others had text erased or replaced with the words “Russian Dream.”
