The Public Defender is responding to the case of violence that took place in the village of Didinedzi, Zugdidi municipality, on October 1, 2016.

A representative of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Division of the Public Defender's Office met with T.M. and L.D., the victims of the incident, immediately after the release of corresponding information. T.M. could not remember the incident and the reasons for his hospitalisation, while L.D. said that they were distributing the Georgian Dream campaign materials in the village of Didinedzi at about 21.00 on October 1, when they noticed two persons at a bus stop and decided to hand over the campaign materials to them, though in response they were told that the Georgian Dream ruling would be over on October 8 and that they had nothing to do in the village. The activists went away, though the mentioned persons followed them by a car. In a few minutes they verbally abused the activists and asked them to leave the village.

L.D. kept going, but soon he noticed that his friend was being abused by 7-8 persons. He came up to one of them, whom he earlier saw in the mentioned car, and asked him to stop violence, in response to which, L.D. was offended. The mentioned person hit L.D. in the face and tried to choke him after he fell down, though residents of the village intervened and saved him. After L.D. managed to stand up, he saw that T.M. was lying in the water channel and the person, whom he earlier saw in the car, was hitting him on the head with a stone, after which he lost consciousness.

According to reports, three injured young men were admitted to the Zugdidi Referral Hospital. Two of them have signs of brain concussion, while the third one has superficial head trauma. One of the victims has damages to his throat as well.

Election of a government through general, equal and direct elections is the main democratic value of a democratic state and the major form of realization of democracy. The right to free elections is guaranteed by the Constitution of Georgia and the European Convention on Human Rights. Obviously, it refers not only to the state's obligation to conduct the voting process in violence-free conditions, but also to fair review of complaints and incidents occurring on the election day, right assessment and provision of free pre-election environment.

Elections will be declared democratic only if the voting process is conducted in full accordance with the legislation, state response to the voting violations is adequate, decisions made as a result of review of complaints and suits are substantiated, and the pre-electoral environment is free of violence.

One of the reasons for the occurrence of violence in the village of Didinedzi on October 1, 2016, might be the lack of response to the earlier violence cases. Rapid investigation of similar cases, identification of offenders and their punishment in accordance with the legislation represent a preventive measure to avoid violence in the future.

It should be noted that the representative of the Public Defender's Office also met with the persons questioned in a police station after the incident. According to them, police had not abused them, though their lawyer told the Public Defender's representative that police did not give him information about the whereabouts of his clients and he did not have the opportunity to meet them. The representative of the Public Defender's Office requested explanations from the police chief, but could not get an answer of why they had refused to provide information to the lawyer.

The Public Defender calls on the law enforcement agencies to promptly and effectively investigate the incident, and not to leave any case of violence without adequate response.