Lawyers of “Rights Georgia” visited Rati Tkemaladze and Otar Kvaratskhelia, who were detained yesterday near Rustaveli Avenue, at the temporary detention facility in Digomi.

According to Rati Tkemaladze’s lawyer, Mariam Maghradze, who spoke to Interpressnews, the detainees showed no signs of physical abuse, stating that “only psychological pressure can be discussed.”

“Their detention occurred on Zandukeli Street. The police officers were not in uniform at the time of the arrest. It was only at the moment of detention that Rati [Tkemaladze] and Oto [Kvaratskhelia] realized that it was, in fact, police officers carrying out the arrest. Until then, they thought they were being followed by 'titushki,' as they were pursued from the Rustaveli area almost to the end of Zandukeli.

They have been transferred to the Digomi detention facility. Their detention happened at 11:00 PM yesterday. Throughout the night, we were trying to determine which detention facility they had been taken to, but no one confirmed their location.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs accuses them of disobedience and violation of the Law on Administrative Offenses. In reality, there was no occurrence of the alleged violation that the Ministry is accusing them of,” stated Mariam Maghradze.

For context, two individuals were detained administratively near Rustaveli metro station by the police.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, both individuals were detained under Articles 173 and 174¹ of the Administrative Code, which refer to resisting police.

Reportedly, the reason for the detention of Rati Tkemaladze and Otar Kvaratskhelia was allegedly wearing balaclavas and masks featuring the image of Bidzina Ivanishvili.