"Those who attack police must be punished" - Prime Minister of Georgia on the case of Lazare Grigoriadis

Lazare Grigoriadis case

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has commented on the case of Lazar Grigoriadis, who was arrrested for taking part in mass protests against the “foreign agents law”. According to the prime minister, the goal of the protesters was to achieve chaos in the country.

“Of course, what happened is unacceptable. All those accused of assaulting the police must be punished. In general, I would like to recall that in the United States of America, four people died during the storming of the Capitol [in 2021]. It turns out that we also have the norm of letting these anarchists into the parliament building, the norm to throw Molotov cocktails at the police, but the police must not act, and we must not punish anyone … Of course, this is not how it will be,” the prime minister said.

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Lazare Grigoriadis was sentenced by the court to pre-trial detention. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he threw stones and Molotov cocktail at police officers at rallies on March 7-9. The court session was held to the indignant noise of civil activists. The next meeting is scheduled for May 1st.

The police arrested Grigoriadis on 29 March. He is also accused of deliberately setting fire to a Toyota Corolla car belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs on March 9.

Grigoriadis is accused under two articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia – an attack on the health of a police officer in connection with his official activities and the destruction of someone else’s property by arson. He faces imprisonment for a term of seven to 11 years.

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The chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, said of the detainee that “he had all his priorities mixed up” and “this is a man who has gone astray.” According to Kobakhidze, Grigoriadis is associated with the “Bolshevik troika” – Elene Khoshtaria, Zurab Japaridze and Giorgi Vashadze. Khoshtaria denies the claims spread by the chairman of the Georgian Dream.

“I personally do not know the arrested person, and he is not a member of Droa [the opposition party led by Khoshtaria], but we will protect him in every possible way. We are looking for contacts with the family and we will be there according to their wishes. One of the main topics of the visit to Brussels was the protection of the demonstrators. We will protect them both outside and inside the country!” Khoshtaria wrote on Facebook.