Lawyer: During the arrest, homophobic remarks were made towards Saba Sordia in the car because he was wearing an earring

According to the lawyer, Saba Sordia, a journalist of Indigo, was stopped by law enforcement officers as part of a so-called raid, during which they demanded his ID and checked his bag.

According to the lawyer, during the arrest, homophobic remarks were made towards him in the car because he was wearing an earring.

According to the lawyer, they plan to apply to the Public Defender.

"At this stage, we know that Saba was arrested under Article 173 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, which refers to disobeying a lawful request of a police officer. As Saba says, he was at the Marjanishvili metro station to meet friends, when two police officers approached him and told him that they were requesting his ID card for verification purposes. Saba gave him his ID card, then he was asked to open his bag, which he did, but then the police officers wanted to open one of the pockets of the bag themselves, at which point Saba told them that he would open it himself. At that time, the police officers grabbed him, put him in a patrol police car and took him to the patrol police station. At the time of the arrest, Saba was not told that he was being detained. After arriving at the police station, they told him that he was detained under administrative law. Also, Saba said that while he was in the patrol car, homophobic words were used against him because he was wearing an earring,” the lawyer said.

According to Saba Sordia’s human rights defender, he was also threatened with breaking his camera.

According to him, Saba Sordia did not say that he was a journalist when she was arrested.