Levan Ioseliani: If anyone made harsh statements regarding recent events, it was me - no Public Defender has ever mentioned any case of alleged torture, not even on June 20, and today they are saying these things about me

If anyone made harsh statements regarding recent events, it was me. No Public Defender has ever mentioned any case of alleged torture, not even on June 20, and today they are saying these things about me, - Public Defender Levan Ioseliani PalitraNews TV.

According to Ioseliani, if the Public Defender is subordinated to someone’s interests, he will lose this neutral function.

“Political parties demand from me that I be only a defender of their interests, that I speak the narrative that they want. Some group of activists wants me to make assessments that they consider correct, someone wants me not to have statements like I have, etc. Everyone has their own interests. The Public Defender is a person who, if subordinated to these interests, will lose this neutral function. All these people remain dissatisfied, including the government.

If anyone made harsh statements regarding recent events, it was me. Not a single public defender has ever mentioned any case of alleged torture, not even on June 20, and today they are saying these things about me.

There might be systemic ill-treatment, but torture is an individual case, which, in order to reach this level, requires an investigation of a specific case, which is why it is impossible to say so categorically, but we have all seen that people were systematically mistreated.

Ill-treatment includes both alleged torture and degrading treatment, inhuman treatment, threats of torture - these are all different articles.

We can say that there was ill-treatment of these 260 people, but who was subjected to degrading treatment, who was subjected to inhuman treatment, who was threatened with torture - these are issues that the investigation must establish.

From what I have seen, I can say that yes, such cases did occur because many people were affected, but which specific crime was committed against whom, this must be established by the investigative body.

These people, who were beaten, who were injured, whom I myself visited, are simply being lied to, as if I am against them, whereas I am on their side,” Ioseliani said.

The Ombudsman also assessed today’s statements that were critical of him, including the statement of Nika Melia, who said that “no one has ever been so harmful in the ombudsman’s building.” As Ioseliani noted, such statements mean nothing to him.