Day: September 27, 2023
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NPR News: 09-27-2023 4AM EDT
Lazare Grigoriadis sentenced for violence against his father
One year and six months in prison for injuring his father Beka Grigoriadis – this is the sentence handed down on 26 September to 21-year-old Georgian activist Lazare Grigoriadis. Many human rights activists say there is a political context to the judgement.
Lazare Grigoriadis has been on trial since March 2023, but for a completely different reason. Lazare participated in the 8-9 March protests against the government’s intention to pass a law on foreign agents, he is accused of assaulting police officers.
The case is still under investigation, and the court’s judgement on the events of two years ago came as a surprise even to his family members.
“A case that has been on the shelf for two years has now been reopened, what kind of madness is this?”, Lazare’s father Beka Grigoriadis tells reporters. During the court’s judgement, he shouted directly from the courtroom that during that incident “he himself was very drunk and the boy was not at fault”. The judge made him leave the room for disturbing the order.
Lazare Grigoriadis was arrested on 29 March. According to the prosecutor’s office, Grigoriadis threw Molotov cocktails at officers of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Special Forces during the 7-9 March protests in Tbilisi against the draft law on foreign agents. The prosecution also alleges that on the night of 9 March he deliberately set fire to a Toyota Corolla model car belonging to the Interior Ministry.
Grigoriadis is the only person arrested in the aftermath of those protests. Around 100,000 people took part in the rallies. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrations for three consecutive days. Eventually the government was forced to make concessions. In line with the rally’s demands, it withdrew the bill and released all those arrested during the rallies.
After his arrest, Grigoriadis’ lawyers filed an appeal against Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze “for publicly spreading defamatory statements against Lazare Grigoriadis”.
The incident on which Lazare Grigoriadis is sentenced at this stage took place in 2021. According to the investigation version, Lazare wounded his father with a cold weapon (knife) in the thigh area and broke the rear window of his car. In addition to the criminal term, a fine of 3,000 GEL [approximately $1,000] was imposed. However, according to the principle of absorption by another punishment, a larger one, Grigoriadis will not have to pay the fine.
Lazare’s grandfather, Gia Kalandadze, told reporters that it was the father who was to blame for the family conflicts. “My daughter is divorced from him. He [Lazare’s father] used to come to our house, curse and scold us. Once the door was opened by Lazare, that’s when the fight took place and his father was wounded,” Kalandadze said.
If Lazare Grigoriadis is found guilty in the case of attack on police officers, he faces 7 to 11 years in prison.
The influential non-governmental organisation Young Lawyers Association states that the rights of Lazare Grigoriadis may have been violated. Based on public information, the association cites specific points:
● Despite high public interest, at the court session where Lazare Grigoriadis was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment as a preventive measure, the grounds for the application of imprisonment were not explained.
● Lawyers who visited Grigoriadis on 3 April reported that investigating officers may have coerced Grigoriadis to provide them with compromising information.
● Grigoriadis’ lawyer also reported on 3 April that the defendant’s hair had been shaved off against his will. The Penitentiary Service denied this information, but the Young Lawyers Association believes that it is possible that the detainee’s rights were violated.