Giga Lemonjava: There is no segment left untouched by Georgian Dream’s repressive regime - now is the time for a major protest, and I am confident people will come out

“When we talk about Davitaze’s case, we cannot discuss it as an isolated incident taken out of context. Torture, inhuman and degrading treatment are systemic practices carried out by the Georgian Dream regime,” Giga Lemonjava, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, said on PalitraNews’ program "Resume".

According to Lemonjava, now is precisely the time for a major protest “because there is no segment of society left that has not been affected by Georgian Dream’s repressive regime.”

“Torture, inhuman and degrading treatment are practices within the law enforcement structures - this is a fact. We have numerous cases of this. When we talk about Davitaze’s case, we cannot discuss it as an isolated incident taken out of context.

They have already affected so many people that on one side there is a small criminal group called Georgian Dream, and the entire country is on the other side. They can no longer claim that the entire country is an agent of the ‘deep state’ and is funded. They have targeted doctors, teachers, prisoners and former allies. Propaganda will soon no longer work.

They no longer have the capacity to deal with new centers of protest. They know that it only takes one spark for protests to return to the scale they reached in November and December 2024.

Our responsibility - and by ‘our,’ I mean the political class - is now to put as many resources, efforts and as much struggle as possible into making the protests as broad-based as they were before. I want to tell you that we are taking very concrete steps to hold a major protest rally in October.

Now is exactly the time for this, because they have left no segment of society untouched by their repressive regime. Now is the time for a major protest, and I am confident that people will definitely come out to this protest,” Lemonjava said.

For reference, convicted prisoner Giorgi Davitaze, held at Rustavi Penitentiary Institution No. 6, made a statement at the Tbilisi Court of Appeals accusing a guard of rape. He said the alleged incident took place in a de-escalation room, involved several individuals, and claimed that “everything can be seen on the cameras.”

The Special Penitentiary Service also responded to the allegation, calling it disinformation. According to the Penitentiary Service, “there was no violence of any kind against Davitaze, let alone sexual violence.”