On 17 July 2019, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria met with members of the Advisory Council and provided information on the criminal case of abuse of power by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on June 20-21.

According to Nino Lomjaria, representatives of the Public Defender have full access to the investigative materials and examine them every day. The examination of 10 volumes of the case materials showed that 300 people have been interviewed. Injured persons, about 50 journalists and 45 police officers were interviewed at the first stage. Questioning of high-rank law enforcers will begin this week. In addition, forensic examination has been appointed; evidence has been obtained; bullets, TV footage, as well as footage of video cameras installed in private and public facilities, has been seized. Significant part of the footage has already been transcribed.

"The joint recommendation of the Public Defender and the Council is to focus on the study of the overall situation: how the police used the force; whether the force used by police was in compliance with the instructions and legislative regulations in Georgia; how the operation was planned; who issued orders and who was responsible for the execution of the orders. These are the main issues and the investigation should focus on the abuse of power by individual police officers only after studying all this,"- the Public Defender told journalists.

The Public Defender has been supervising the investigation into the alleged abuse of power by the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ongoing in the Prosecutor's Office since July 2.

The Public Defender set up the Advisory Council to facilitate effective and transparent monitoring. The Council consists of representatives of various groups, non-governmental organizations and professionals. The Public Defender regularly holds meetings with members of the Council.

Members of the Advisory Council are:

Dimitri Khachidze - Article 42 of the Constitution,

Sophio Asatiani - Open Society Georgia Foundation,

Marine Kapanadze - Georgian Democracy Initiative,

Ani Nasrashvili - Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center,

Tamta Kakhidze - Transparency International Georgia,

Giorgi Gogia - Human Rights Watch,

Maia Mtsariashvili – Lawyer,

Ketevan Chomakhashvili – Lawyer,

Giorgi Noniashvili - Iliauni, Governance Monitoring Center, member of the organizational group of the 20 June protest movement,

Amiran Giguashvili - Lawyer.