MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax) - Opposition activists, who were detained at a demonstration in Tbilisi on May 26, were savagely beaten, said Nino Burjanadze, leader of the Democratic Movement - United Georgia Party.
"We know that many people were detained, and the government provided us with no information about them. Unfortunately, today we learnt about two more deaths," Burjanadze said in an interview with the Russia Today television channel.
The activists might have been beaten to death, the opposition politician said. "I am afraid they were beaten to death, which is why their bodies were found. Otherwise, it is impossible to imagine how these bodies ended up near the protest venue, where they were found by security forces," she said.
"We know that policemen savagely beat those in custody. You see my security people who were beaten in jail. Now many of those who were in police custody are in hospital," Burjanadze said
"Rumor has it that several people died at police stations. There have been increasingly more stories about what is going on at police and in jails, and this is horrible," she said.
The relatives of wanted opposition activists have also been arrested, she said. "We learnt that police raided the houses of wanted activists and arrested their relatives - mothers, sisters and wives," Burjanadze said.
On May 26, organizers of an opposition protest in Tbilisi refused to leave the venue past the closing time agreed with the city authorities, thus causing riot police to force the protestors out of the Rustaveli Prospekt where a parade was due to be held on the occasion of the Independence Day. During the dispersal of protestors police used water cannons, tear gas, batons and rubber bullets, resulting in many people injured and two killed, including one police officer.
Among those killed was a member of the Georgian opposition Labor Party, Nodar Tskhadadze. The policeman and the opposition protester died after being run over by a speeding vehicle from the motorcade of the opposition leaders who were in a hurry to leave the venue, the Georgian Interior Ministry said.
Meanwhile, one of the Labor Party leaders, Paata Dzhibladze, said at a briefing on Saturday that Tskhadadze was killed by riot police officers.