The Democracy Research Institute monitors the protests against the "Russian law" and provides legal aid to those detained illegally. On April 16-17, 2024, representatives of various subunits of the Ministry of Internal Affairs cracked down on peaceful protesters and subjected them to physical and verbal abuse.

The Democracy Research Institute is providing legal assistance to 13 protesters who were illegally detained during the crackdown. 12 of them were severely beaten. The detainees have severe body injuries, including concussion, traumatic arthritis of the jaw, injuries to upper and lower limbs, multiple body bruises, lacerations. The health condition of two detainees is serious and they remain at the clinic until now.

During the use of illegal and illegitimate force in the process of violence by the riot police, the detainees’ personal belongings were lost or damaged, including two mobile phones, shoes, and glasses. According to the testimony of the victims, it was impossible to identify the members of the riot police in accordance with the rules established by law, since they did not have mandatory identification signs.

According to Article 247 of the Administrative Offences Code of Georgia, the arrested person shall be brought to court as soon as possible, but not later than 24 hours. In extreme cases, this term can be extended once, in order to obtain evidence, but for no more than 24 hours. During the trial, it became clear that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had not submitted any evidence to the court in relation to any of the detainees, which would be impossible to obtain within the first 24 hours after the arrest. According to the Democracy Research Institute, the extension of the detention period to 48 hours served to punish the demonstrators, prolong the severe physical pain inflicted on them or to hide their injuries from the public.

The Democracy Research Institute considers that Articles 3 (Prohibition of torture), 5 (Right to liberty and security), 10 (Freedom of expression) and 11 (Freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights were violated in relation to the persons detained on April 16-17.