NGOs Protest against Arrest of Newspaper Editor

Representatives from the non-governmental sector of Georgia are protesting the arrest of Revaz Okruashvili, editor of the newspaper People’s Newspaper, who has been sentenced by the court to three months of pretrial detention.

“When the Interior Minister publicly declares that Revaz Okruashvili was arrested by his direct order, it becomes quite clear why the court sentenced him to pretrial detention,” Tina Khidasheli, a legal expert and chief of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), said at a news briefing on August 5.

On August 2 criminal police in the Shida Kartli region of Georgia detained Revaz Okruashvili, alleging the possession and selling of illegal substances by the accused.

Later on August 4 the court sentenced Okruashvili to a 3 month pre-trial detention, triggering public protest in Shida Kartli.

The family of the detainee argues that the Govener of Shida Kartli, Mikheil Kareli, as well as the police chiefs of Shida Kartli, were alarmed by publications in “People’s Newspaper” that alleged the region’s administration’s continued participation in illegal trade and smuggling via South Ossetia – a secessionist Georgian region bordering Shida Kartli, Civil Georgia reports.