Protests against the Georgian Dream party’s disputed October election victory and the November suspension of European Union accession talks had diminished in scale in the capital, Tbilisi, for several weeks, but took on new force in early February. Most of the recent attacks on journalists happened at a February 2 protest in Tbilisi, while others were obstructed or attacked at a smaller demonstration calling for the release of jailed journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli on February 4.

Mamuka Andguladze, chair of local rights group Media Advocacy Coalition, told CPJ that authorities have yet to prosecute a single police perpetrator of violence against journalists, pointing to Georgian riot police’s failure to wear individual identifying badges, frequent use of masks, and a “political decision” by the authorities not to prosecute culprits.

“Continued police brutality against journalists in Georgia is sadly predictable given authorities’ failure to hold officers responsible for dozens of similar cases over recent months,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Georgian authorities must urgently break the cycle of impunity by effectively investigating police attacks on the press and ensuring officers wear badges making them individually identifiable.”

During the February 2 protest in northern Tbilisi, Dea Mamiseishvili, a reporter for independent broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi, was filming police hit protesters with her cell phone when a group of officers repeatedly struck her on the arms, kicked her in the legs, and pushed her, trying to take her phone, according to the journalist and footage of the incident. Mamiseishvili told CPJ that police officers also repeatedly pushed her camera operator, Luka Bachilava, and struck him in the head earlier that evening to stop him filming the arrest of an opposition politician.

On February 4, outside the parliament building, officers threw Vantsent Khabeishvili, chief editor of the independent outlet On.ge, to the curb and grabbed Publika reporter Natia Leverashvili by her hair, according to video footage and a statement by independent trade group Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics.