Journalist Guram Rogava, who was injured during a pro-European protest while performing his professional duties, came to the Tbilisi City Court with blank sheets of paper for a hearing in the case of an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ (MIA) Special Tasks Department (special forces) accused of using violence against him.
Rogava stated that with the blank sheets of paper, he wanted to symbolically express that this is exactly what his criminal case files look like.
The journalist also reported that he was barred from the court hearing, despite his status as a victim, because Judge Tamar Makharoblidze declared that the proceedings were being held behind closed doors.
“The case file contains nothing but a confession. The special forces officer detained in my case admits that he attacked me. To me, this confession means nothing. As a victim and as a journalist, I do not know under what circumstances the investigators obtained it—whether through pressure, bribery, or other mechanisms. Looking at these blank sheets, which are in the case files, I cannot believe that there is evidence in the case confirming the identity of my attacker,” Rogava said.
As a reminder, three officers of the MIA’s Special Tasks Department have been detained in connection with the case involving the use of violence against Guram Rogava and Zviad Maisashvili. They have been charged with abuse of official authority involving violence, and one is also charged with unlawfully obstructing the professional activities of a journalist involving violence. In total, five people have been detained in the case concerning violence against the 2024 protesters, facing between five and eight years in prison.
