The Ministry of Internal Affairs categorically calls on the media and mobile operators to cut off or restrict the live signal from Zugdidi. The statement was made by the First Deputy Minister Kakhaber Sabanadze.

“As you are aware, we are dealing with the worst case in Zugdidi. Our citizens are being held as hostages. As soon as the report was received, investigation was launched and urgent operative-search as well as investigative measures initiated.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is making maximum efforts to release hostages and finalize the police operation peacefully.

Unfortunately, there have been cases when several media sources provided live broadcast to the assailant, directly posing a threat to the effective operation of police units.

Therefore, we persistently demand from all media outlets and mobile operators to immediately cut off / restrict the live signal from the incident site in order to protect the safety of the hostages and law enforcers, as well as to effectively conduct the police operation.

Otherwise, the state reserves the right to exercise all respective tools at its disposal provided by the acting legislation to ensure the safety of life and health of our citizens.

Once again, we want to emphasize that this is done to protect the lives, health and safety of the citizens and police officers.

We will do our best to finalize this case in a peaceful manner and ensure the safety of each citizen, community member and police officer.

Investigation regarding the mentioned incident is in progress under the articles 179, 236 and 144 envisaged by the Criminal Code of Georgia”, - said Kakhaber Sabanadze.