Crossing the Line

Georgia’s Violent Dispersal of Protestors and Raid on Imedi Television

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• Summary

• Sequence of Events

• Accountability for the Excessive Use of Force

• Methodology

• Background

• The Opposition Demonstrations

• Georgian Media and Imedi Television

• The Coup d’Etat in Recent Georgian History

• Relations between Russia and Georgia

• November 7, 2007

• Widespread Use of Police Violence to Disperse Demonstrators

• Dispersal of protestors and hunger strikers on the steps of Parliament

• Violent dispersal of protestors on Rustaveli Avenue in front of Parliament

• The violent dispersal of protestors on Rustaveli Avenue, from the Marriott Hotel to Republican Square 

• The violent dispersal of protestors at Rike

• Assault and Kidnapping of Koba Davitashvili

• The Special Operation to Close Imedi Television

• The Violent Dispersal of Imedi Journalists and Supporters Outside of Imedi Television 

• Injuries Sustained by Demonstrators and Law Enforcement Agents

• Investigations into the Events of November 7

• Aftermath

• State of Emergency

• The Alleged Coup Plot and the Alleged Role of Imedi Television

• Police Violence against Peaceful Protestors on November 8

• International Reaction

• Announcement of Presidential Election

• Georgia’s Legal Obligations

• The Conduct of the Operations to Disperse Protestors

• The Decision to Disperse the Protestors

• Dispersals at 8:00 a.m. on Rustaveli Avenue and outside of the Imedi studios

• Dispersals on Rustaveli Avenue and Rike

• The Raid on and Closure of Imedi Television

• Recommendations

• To the Georgian Government

• Regarding the dispersal of and attacks on protestors

• Regarding freedom of the media

• To the United States and the European Union

• To the Council of Europe

• Acknowledgements

December 2007 Volume 19, No. 8(D)