L.Gh. an employee of the Public Defender's Office, and his companion I.Gh. were physically and verbally abused by 15-20 guards in the vicinity of the Lilo market at about 9:30 am, on July 29, 2017. As a result, L.Gh. and I.Gh. received various injuries. An investigation is being carried out into the case by the 4^th Division of the Isani-Samgori Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

It should be noted that several banks and credit institutions are located in the vicinity of the place where the incident took place and the surrounding area is controlled by video cameras. However, according to the legislation, the video recordings may not be attached to the case materials, since, as far as we are informed, the investigation is underway into a petty offense.

Despite this, the legislative limitation should not hamper effective investigation in a reasonable period of time and identification of offenders, especially given that the victims have already identified several persons.

It is important that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to take all possible measures to investigate this individual crime in order to support protection of important values ​​for a democratic state: fight against crime and its further prevention, physical security of citizens and protection of human rights.

The Public Defender of Georgia calls on the law enforcement agencies to conduct all necessary investigative and procedural actions in order to establish objective circumstances and punish the perpetrators.