The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) said the perpetrators had already been arrested in February after the opposition-leaning TV Pirveli channel aired a teaser featuring scenes of violence apparently involving police officers.
On June 12, TV Pirveli released a teaser for Meladze’s Saturday (Meladzes Shabati), the channel’s weekend investigative program hosted by journalist Nodar Meladze. The teaser featured scenes appearing to show police officers beating detainees and using verbal abuse and intimidation to coerce confessions. The full report is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. on June 13.
The footage shows at least three different scenes in a closed room, with faces of victims blurred, and three identifiable perpetrators, apparently police officers. The latter are seen insulting their victims and pressuring them with phrases like “tell me quickly,” as victims are heard saying in response, “I don’t know anything,” and “I don’t know who is who.” The recordings also appear to show officers kicking the detainees and striking them with their hands, while one officer is seen pulling the hair of one of the victims.
The teaser claims that the footage was recorded by police officers themselves and shared in a group chat, while the individual who leaked the images was subsequently arrested. According to the program’s teaser, additional footage exists beyond what was shown in the teaser, although it remains unclear whether it will be included in the full report.
Interior Ministry Reacts
As the teaser was circulated on social media, it drew widespread backlash. Shortly afterwards, the Interior Ministry issued a statement, effectively confirming the authenticity of aired recordings by saying that they stem from an episode in 2022 for which three perpetrators had already been arrested in February 2026.
According to the Ministry, “the case concerns three officers of the Imereti Police Department who, while on assignment in Kobuleti in the Adjara region in the summer of 2022, committed the crime depicted in the footage.” MIA noted that the crime was uncovered in February by the Ministry’s General Inspectorate, which led to an investigation at the Prosecutor’s Office and the arrest of three police officers on February 23 this year.
“We are aware that the journalists who aired the teaser possess this information, but they deliberately left the information out of the program teaser, with a goal to intentionally discredit the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the statement reads.
According to the February 23, 2026, statement by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia [accessed on June 13], the agency “has arrested three former employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on charges of exceeding official authority with violence.”
The statement said that in July 2022, three employees of the Interior Ministry’s Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Police Department “were seconded to the Adjara region for the performance of their official duties,” noting: “while working on a criminal case, the above-mentioned individuals brought three citizens to the administrative building of the Kobuleti District Division, where they exceeded their official authority by subjecting them to verbal and physical abuse.”
The agency said that the probe was launched upon the referral from MIA’s General Inspectorate, and all three suspects were arrested and will be charged with “exceeding official authority with violence.” It is unknown whether the suspects remain in custody.
Broader Abuse, Impunity Concerns
The footage emerges as the ruling Georgian Dream party has sought to distance itself rhetorically from allegations of systemic abuse, amid longstanding concerns among critics about persisting impunity in cases of police violence.
Similar backlash followed recent footage from Gori, a town in central Georgia, where two people were seen in a viral video being beaten by police, leading authorities to arrest six suspects.
Earlier in May, Georgian prosecutors announced the arrest of the first police abuse suspects in 2024-2025 protest cases, following repeated appeals by local and international watchdogs, as well as the Public Defender’s Office, that no police officer had been held accountable despite numerous documented cases and despite dozens of protesters arrested and tried on violence charges.
Reacting to the latest TV Pirveli teaser, Georgian Public Defender condemned the cases of ill-treatment by police, saying that every year, the agency’s Special Prevention Group “receives information about violence against detainees by police, both during detention and afterward, inside police vehicles and administrative buildings.”
The Public Defender reiterated that “the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment is impossible without combating impunity and ensuring effective safeguards against ill-treatment,” adding that “unfortunately, the recommendations issued in this regard have remained unimplemented for years.”
Also Read:
