No evidence links protest abuse cases to orders from senior officials, Mdinaradze

Georgia’s State Minister for Coordination of Law Enforcement Agencies Mamuka Mdinaradze has claimed investigators have found neither direct nor indirect evidence suggesting that special forces officers were ordered by senior officials to use violence against individuals during protest operations in 2024.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Mdinaradze said the ongoing criminal investigation had uncovered no evidence indicating that anyone had instructed riot police officers to assault or harm protesters.

He further claimed the absence of even indirect evidence meant investigators had no legal basis to pursue what he described as alleged “organisers” or “commissioners” behind the incidents.

Mdinaradze argued that claims about higher-level involvement formed part of a public relations campaign by critics dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the case.

He said that if evidence implicating senior officials existed, law enforcement agencies would act on it, pointing to what he described as recent cases involving the detention of high-ranking officials where evidence of wrongdoing had been identified.

The minister also suggested the alleged abuses appeared to be isolated incidents rather than part of a systematic policy.

“As the evidence indicates, these were private initiatives and individual cases,” Mdinaradze said, adding that investigators were following evidence and factual circumstances rather than “PR campaigns”.