Authoritarian system fears free people, rights defender says

Authoritarian systems are hostile towards free individuals and fear them, rights defender Lasha Tkesheladze said on Wednesday. 

Speaking about the treatment of detainees during anti-governmental protests, Tkesheladze said that repression stems from fear of people who cannot be broken, even under pressure.

“For a long time now, these people have been stripped of human feelings,” he said. “The system and authoritarianism hate free people. They fear them and despise them. They imprisoned them and tortured them, but failed to break them. That is why they fear them, and that is precisely why they tried to provoke them into making some kind of mistake.”

Tkesheladze said that, as a human rights defender, the release of all prisoners was his primary concern.

“For me, it is important that everyone is released, because our fighters are heroes,” he said. “We need these people outside, as our comrades, not in prison. That is why it is crucial to bring them out.”