Two employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been detained on the fact of violence shown in the video released by the media. Such a statement made today Giorgi Gamezardashvili, Deputy Head of the State Inspector’s Office.

“We would like to inform the public that on 22 January 2022, two employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were arrested on the fact of violence depicted in the video recording released by media.

In particular, the Patrol-Inspector of the third section of the Metropolitan Unit of the Patrol Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, N. B. was arrested on charges of degrading or inhuman treatment and the Patrol-Inspector of the third section of the same Unit, K. B. was arrested on charges of abuse of official power.

As it is known to the public, on 24 January 2022, on the basis of the information released by media, the State Inspector’s Service initiated investigation immediately. After launching the investigation, investigative and procedural actions were carried out: crime scene was inspected; witnessed were interviewed, including the individual who had been subjected to violence was interviewed with participation of a psychologist; video recordings that are of interest for the investigation were requested; the mobile phone of one of the arrested individuals was seized; forensic examinations were appointed.

The following has been established on the basis of the investigative and procedural actions carried out at this stage:

On 23 January 2022, in the evening, around the period of 8:00-9:00 PM, a 17-year-old minor with disabilities was at Metro Station “Isani” with his brother and friends. The Patrol-inspector K. B. standing near the metro escalator, took the minor by the escalator to the metro lobby, the room for the employees of the Patrol Police Department. One of the officers of the Patrol Police Department who was in the mentioned room, punched the minor in the head several times with his fist and pulled his hair. Despite the indications made by the minor that he was a hearing-impaired person and had not been able to understand the conversation, the police officer continued beating him harshly. The incident was witnessed by the individuals accompanying the minor. As a result of the mentioned actions, the minor got injuries in his head and face, suffered severe physical pain and felt humiliated. The second officer of the Patrol Police Department who witnessed the fact of violence exerted by his colleague against the minor, failed to inform the investigative body – the State Inspector’s Service about the incident.

The Patrol-inspector of the third section of the Metropolitan Unit of the Patrol Police Department, N. B. was arrested by he State Inspector’s Service on charges of committing the crime prescribed by subsections “a”, “b” and “g” of the second section of Article 1443 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, that is degrading or inhuman treatment committed by an official by abusing the official position, knowingly against a minor and a person otherwise deprived of freedom; The second employee of the Patrol Police Department, the Patrol-inspector of the third section of the same Unit, K. B. witnessing the fact of violence, was arrested on charges of committing the crime prescribed by the first section of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, that is abuse of official power.

The criminal case is under investigation and numerous investigative and procedural actions are to be carried out. Based on the evidence obtained, the circumstances of the case and qualification of the crime can be specified.

As soon as the investigation was launched, the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs actively cooperated with the State Inspector’s Service.

We call on every member of the public, including journalists, as the case concerns the crime committed against the minor with disabilities, to take special care when covering and expressing an opinion on the issue”, - said Giorgi Gamezardashvili.