MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The dispersal of demonstrations in Tbilisi and Batumi are an utter violation of fundamental human rights and liberties, Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's envoy for human rights, democracy and rule of law, said.
"Such actions by the Mikheil Saakashvili regime cannot be seen other than as hampering the exercise by the public and the country's political forces of their statutory rights to the freedom of assembly and expression of opinions, enshrined in particular in the European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms," the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
"Unless the Georgian authorities discontinue their violent methods, this will lead to further escalation in relations between the authorities and the opposition and even greater destabilization of the general situation in the country," Dolgov said.