LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Thursday sanctioned four Georgian officials, including the country’s first deputy minister of internal affairs Shalva Bedoidze, accusing them of serious human rights violations. Protests in Georgia have been ongoing since November, when the ruling Georgian Dream party said it was suspending European Union accession talks until 2028. The British government said […]
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UK sanctions Georgian officials over human rights abuses
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LONDON (Reuters) -Britain on Thursday sanctioned four Georgian officials, including the country’s first deputy minister of internal affairs Shalva Bedoidze, accusing them of serious human rights violations.
Protests in Georgia have been ongoing since November, when the ruling Georgian Dream party said it was suspending European Union accession talks until 2028.
The British government said Bedoidze has engaged in actions that constitute a grave infringement of individuals’ rights to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
“Specifically, during the protests that occurred following the announcement of the suspension of EU accession talks, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia oversaw the police force’s disproportionate use of violence against protestors,” it said.
It also sanctioned Mirza Kezevadze, deputy head of the special tasks department of internal affairs ministry, general prosecutor Giorgi Gabitashvi and Karlo Katsitadze, head of the special investigatory service, the British foreign office said.
All four were sanctioned under Britain’s global human rights sanctions regime.
The Georgian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony and Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Paul Sandle)