The State Department called for calm in Georgia after the death of a TV Pirveli cameraman Lekso Lashkarava beaten up during violence against LGBT activists and said those who attacked peaceful protesters and journalists should be prosecuted.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told Demna Devdariani at a news briefing that Washington was following the situation in Georgia and was committed to seeing that those responsible are held accountable.
Q: I watched your briefing a week ago where you talked about organized violence from Tbilisi police streets when Georgian law enforcement, as many allege, intentionally did not stop the violent attacks on journalists and members of the LGBTQIA community. After your briefing two days ago, a cameraman of TV Pirveli, my colleague Alexandre Lashkarava has been beaten up by a mob and he died two days ago. My question would be, in light of these events and the recent past events in Georgia, there are serious concerns that Georgia is diverting towards illiberalism. Is Secretary Blinken comfortable with these developments? And also, what do you have to say to those people on the street right now who are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili?
A: Well, first of all, we extend our deepest condolences to your former colleague, Lekso Lashkarava, to his family and loved ones and his colleagues, yourself included. We're closely following the reports concerning his death. We do call for calm and an end to the violence that has already caused one tragic loss of life, in this case, the death of your colleague. The safety of every Georgian journalist and the credibility of democracy in Georgia require that every individual who attacked peaceful protesters and journalists on July 5th and 6th or those who incited violence, they must be identified. They should be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We remind Georgia's leaders and its law enforcement of their responsibility to protect all of those exercising their constitutional rights, we remind them of their responsibility to protect journalists exercising the freedom of the press.
We encourage all Georgians, including Georgian officials, to publicly condemn this type of violence that has no place in a democracy. We proudly advance efforts around the globe to protect LGBTQIA populations from violence and abuse, criminalization, discrimination and stigma. And we seek to empower local LGBTQIA movements and persons. We firmly oppose abuses against the LGBTQIA community and in this case, the brutal violence against your former colleague, your now deceased colleague. When it comes to the prime minister and his future, that, of course, is a decision for the Georgian people.
Q: Thank you. My sources in Capitol Hill are telling me that there are talks on imposing personal sanctions against those officials in the Georgian government who were directly responsible for the violence we all saw on July 5th. Is this an idea the State Department is also entertaining and how realistic that could be? And very lastly, I would like to know what you think about the responsibility of the opposition political parties in Georgia who are leading those people on the streets. Thank you.
A: Well, we have a number of tools to hold accountable those responsible in some way for human rights abuses, for violence around the world. Sanctions are indeed one of those tools. As you know, we don't preview sanctions before we enact them, but we are following the situation very closely. And we're committed to seeing to it that those responsible for this are held accountable. When it comes to all political actors in Georgia, again, we urge them to very publicly condemn this violence when it comes to the Georgian government we would reiterate our calls for a thorough investigation of this that leads to the perpetrators of this horrific crime being brought to justice.
