Ombudsman relies only on public statements and records - MIA responds to the requested punishment of perpetrators

The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, regarding the initiation of criminal proceedings against Makharadze and Tskipurishvili, calls the statement of the Public Defender her personal assessment and says that only the prosecutor has the right to charge.

Darakhvelidze says that the Public Defender's statement is based only on public statements and records, and he does not have access to the case materials.

According to Darakhvelidze, the prosecutor must decide whether there is enough evidence to charge him.

"This is the assessment of the Public Defender, in the country the prosecutor has the power to prosecute, and the prosecutor makes this decision based on the case materials. As far as I know, the statement of the Public Defender is based only on public statements and records. She did not have access to the materials of the criminal case, therefore the prosecutor must decide if there is enough evidence to charge a particular person, naturally this person will be charged," said Alexander Darakhvelidze.

According to him, a search was conducted at Makharadze's house, he was also administratively detained during one of the rallies and the law "treats everyone equally."

For information, the ombudsman appealed to the prosecutor's office to launch criminal proceedings against the founder of Alt-Info, Zurab Makharadze, and the cleric, Spiridon Tskipurishvili.

The case concerns the July 5 violence in which 53 journalists were injured. It turns out that Makharadze and Tskipurishvili were calling on radical groups to resort to violence.