Georgia s government accused the opposition on Monday of attempting to bribe police officers amid a prison abuse scandal that has heightened tensions and produced mass protests ahead of a parliamentary election next week. The Interior Ministry said four opposition-linked suspects have been arrested. It said the suspects are linked to a candidate of the opposition Georgian Dream coalition that is challenging President Mikhail Saakashvili s party in the 1 October vote. The Interior Ministry released footage on Monday taken by a hidden camera in which an opposition member appears to bribe a prison officer to abuse a detainee. Bring this footage to me and we ll pay 50 thousand Georgia Lari around 30 thousand US dollars the voice in the video says. The Associated Press is unable to independently verify the authenticity content location or date of this handout video. Nukri Qantaria member of the Georgian opposition party Georgian Dream said the video was fabricated. All they want is to change the reality of the situation. They want to make people believe that the torture we have seen in prison was done because someone paid for it but it is not true. They have tortured people themselves Qantaria said. The ministry also alleged that the opposition tried to bribe police officers to resign in protest over the prison abuse scandal in order to increase pressure on the government. Support for Saakashvili s party has been dented by graphic videos showing guards in the ex-Soviet nation brutally beating prisoners and raping them with truncheons and broom handles. Saakashvili has accused his main rival billionaire philanthropist Bidzina Ivanishvili of timing the release of the videos to the election - allegations Ivanishvili has denied. He has also sought to contain the damage by firing Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaya and the minister in charge of the penitentiary system. Saakashvili has completely reshuffled prison personnel suspending all former guards and replacing them with regular police. Despite his efforts to curtail public anger students who spearheaded last week s protests returned to the streets of Tbilisi on Monday to continue pushing for Akhalaya to be prosecuted. They are also demanding the dismissal of the justice minister.

• published: 31 Oct 2013
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