(Read full article on civil.ge)

Ema Gogokhia, a reporter of government-critical Mtavari Arkhi TV, said early on March 18 she and a cameraman were attacked in western town of Zugdidi outside the office of anti-liberal, Russia-friendly Conservative Movement.

Gogokhia said about eight persons, armed with brass knuckles “mercilessly beat” the cameraman, destroyed the crew’s equipment and attacked her as well.

The incident began as Mtavari Arkhi TV Crew came upon some six employees of a Zugididi City Hall-funded nonprofit, trying to remove graffiti writings and a drawing of the Ukrainian flag on the facade of the Russia-friendly party’s office, according to the reporter.

“We asked why they were cleaning the office door and who had tasked them to do so,” Gogokhia recalled, adding that instead of responding “they ran away from the site of the incident, and then [the attackers] arrived in several minutes.”

The assailant’s key target was the camera and they were instructing each other to “smash the equipment,” according to Gogokhia, who reckoned the persons were trying to prevent the story from coming out.