Aka Zarkua

Affiliated media: RealPolitika, Journalist

Incident date: December 30, 2024

Attack type:

• Non-fatal attack / beating / injury / torture

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Center for Media, Information and Social Research

Location: Georgia, Tbilisi

Additional information:

During the protest near the Parliament building, special forces attacked RealPolitika journalist Aka Zarkua. ‘About ten special forces officers surrounded and beat me until they got tired. I won’t even mention the verbal abuse. At one point, their commander arrived and tried to shove my press badge into my mouth. Fortunately, they didn’t manage to seize my phone, and the live stream remains on RealPolitika’s page. The video captures one instance of the physical assault, though my phone was in my pocket during the second, so it wasn’t recorded. They also confiscated my respirator. Thankfully, I was wearing a helmet,’ Zarkua wrote.