Parliament Speaker Kakha Kuchava addressed journalists during the extraordinary sitting on Thursday. He pledged to punish everyone who abused media representatives during the July 5 anti-Tbilisi Pride rallies.
“You have the right to protest, and you will always have the opportunity to do so. Assailants will be called to account for sure. We will respond appropriately. The parliament will entirely control the investigation via a fact-finding commission or any other way. All abusers will not go unpunished,” Kakha Kuchava stated.
The Speaker asked journalists not to admit destruction and disrupt the sitting. The journalists showed up in the parliament hall holding a Punish Abusers banner.
Fifty-five persons, among them fifty-three media representatives, including the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s cameraman Ilia Tvaliashvili, were assaulted during the anti-Tbilisi Pride rally on July 5, according to the Interior Ministry. Tbilisi Pride cancelled the scheduled march amid violent protests, while TV Pirveli cameraman Lekso Lashkarava, 36, died six days after being severely beaten by a far-right mob.
