Protesters had been demanding Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili resign following the death of 37-year-old Alexander Lashkarava. The cameraman was “found dead at home by his mother” Sunday, six days after he was severely overwhelmed by demonstrators making an attempt to dam an LGBTQ delight occasion in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, his employer, TV Pirveli, reported.
Lashkarava suffered “multiple facial fractures” when he was attacked whereas protecting counter-demonstrations in Tbilisi towards a Pride occasion referred to as March for Dignity with fellow journalist Miranda Bagaturia, TV Pirveli Commercial Director Nana Aburjanidze instructed CNN on Sunday.
The occasion was canceled when violent protesters stormed the workplaces of some LGBTQ marketing campaign teams earlier than the march began, Aburjanidze stated.
Garibashvili responded to Lashkarava’s death by referring to the protesters as “anti-state and anti-church forces” who had been politicizing the incident.
“It was yet another failed conspiracy against the State, masterminded by anti-state and anti-church forces, which failed and will never be successful in our country. We all saw that the tragedy of this person was attempted to be used for their own political agenda,” he stated, in response to the AFP information company.
“An appropriate forensic examination is scheduled, at the initiative of the family of the deceased and at the request of the television company, an independent expert is involved in the process and all questions will be answered fully, in the shortest possible time,” he stated.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili visited Lashkarava’s household Sunday and stated the case should be investigated.
53 journalists attacked
TV Pirveli’s Aburjanidze stated Lashkarava died after spending nearly per week in hospital and having surgical procedure.
“He was given the medical treatment to do at home. He visited our office Friday and said the pain was really bad. He was on air on a daytime talk show talking about the incident and demanding justice,” Aburjanidze stated.
“He was too young to die. This is shocking, just unbearable. I don’t know the words that would describe the pain we’re going through right now,” she stated.
Aburjanidze additionally alleged Lashkarava’s physique “was taken away taken away by so called ‘experts’ without having the permission from the family.”
“They basically they kidnapped the body,” she stated.
CNN has reached out to the Georgian police and the inside ministry for remark relating to these allegations however has not obtained a response.
The assertion stated counterdemonstrators “deliberately attacked the media representatives, subjected them to physical and verbal abuse, and deliberately destroyed their equipment to obstruct their journalistic activities.”
“Insufficient police forces did not take measures to protect the journalists,” the assertion stated, including circumstances regarding the violation of journalists’ rights had “reached a critical level.”
Lashkarava’s death was additionally confirmed by Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, which stated in a press release it had launched an investigation below Article 115 of the nation’s legal code.
“The investigation is in progress on the fact of unlawful interference with the journalist’s professional activities under the threats of violence, persecution under violence, or threat of violence and group violence, within the frames (sic) of which 4 individuals have already been detained,” the assertion added.
Giorgi Tabagari, director of Tbilisi Pride, told CNN on Sunday: “The fifth of July was actually, actually a tragic day for Georgia’s democracy. I might say it was a day when the police and (the) system allowed this pogrom to occur in the streets of Tbilisi and did not do something principally to cease the violence from occurring.”
Tabagari said “issues bought so out of hand” on July 5 “we misplaced the lifetime of the cameraman who was simply doing his job.”
CNN’s Amy Woodyatt contributed to this report.