Rights defenders and journalists treat inquiry into attacks in Tbilisi as inefficient

Media professionals and human rights defenders believe that authorities fail to take action against organizers of the violence. Journalists announced their large-scale action on July 17.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that after the death of Lekso Lashkarava, a cameraman of the "TV-Pirveli" Company, journalists and oppositionists are demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister and the government. On July 11 and 13, large-scale protest actions were held in Tbilisi and other major cities of the country. In his turn, Irakli Garibashvili, the Premier, said that he was not going to resign.

A Tbilisi court has arrested Giorgi Magradze, accused of attacking Iliko Tvaliashvili, a Channel cameraman, on July 5, the news agency named "Report" has informed. Tvaliashvili said that his eyesight has not yet recovered, the "Georgia Online" reports.

The journalists who gathered on July 15 outside the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) demanded to bring the organizers and participants of the violence in Tbilisi to justice. They pointed out that 53 media professionals were beaten up on July 5; the police arrested 21 people, including only those involved in the violence, but not the organizers, the "Rustavi-2" TV Company reports.

The events of July 5-6 are being investigated inefficiently – only isolated cases of violence are revealed, but not the organization of violence and calls for it, the NGO "Centre for Social Justice" has stated.

Diplomats from the embassies of 25 member states of the European Union (EU) have stated that the events in Georgia on July 5-6 cast a shadow on EU-Georgia relations, as well as on the country's image.