'Campaign Of Terror': Georgia's Escalating Rights Crackdown

'Campaign of terror': Georgia's escalating rights crackdown

Tbilisi, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jan, 2025) Georgian rights activists have denounced what they say is a mounting campaign of repression being waged by the government, accused of democratic backsliding and of moving Tbilisi closer to Russia.

The Black Sea nation has been rocked by daily mass protests since the Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October parliamentary elections rejected as falsified by the opposition, and then suspended EU accession talks with Brussels.

Activists say a campaign of intimidation, beatings and arrests -- sanctioned by the government -- has followed as the state cracks down on those who took to the streets.

"There is systemic torture happening in this country," said Paata Shamugia, a prominent poet and rights activist.

"Every day, we hear about masked men abducting someone and beating them to the point of mutilation," he added.

"Just yesterday, armed masked men attacked 17-year-olds. And today? By the end of the day, we will know who's next," he said in an interview this week.

In one such incident, an activist from the central city of Gori, Vakho Pitskhelauri, said that three masked men attacked him Sunday night, threw him into a car trunk, drove to a deserted place and brutally beat him.

"They threatened to kill me, to disfigure my face. I tried to cover my face, but they beat me all over. I am injured everywhere," the 32-year-old told AFP by telephone.