Georgia’s security service finds no evidence of chemical use against protesters
Georgia’s State Security Service (SSG) has dismissed allegations made in a BBC investigation that police used a banned chemical agent to disperse protesters in Tbilisi in late 2024, saying it found no evidence to support the claims and has closed the part of the probe related to possible abuse of power, News.Az reports, citing Georgian media.
At a briefing in Tbilisi on Saturday, SSG deputy head Lasha Magradze said investigators found nothing to substantiate reports that police employed bromobenzyl cyanide, also known as camite — a World War I–era toxic agent — during mass demonstrations.
“The Georgian Interior Ministry has never purchased camite,” Magradze said. He added that “none of the substances used by the police fall into the category of banned agents.”
According to the SSG, police used only CS gas (chlorobenzylidene malononitrile) mixed with the solvent propylene glycol on December 4–5, 2024 — a widely used irritant deployed by law-enforcement agencies around the world. The materials, Magradze noted, were acquired in 2007 and 2009 from an Israeli supplier and transported under international commodity codes UN3439 and UN1710.
The SSG said it conducted “160 investigative actions” over five days, including chemical analysis of 25 samples stored at police bases, carried out by the Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau. Investigators also identified traces of trichloroethylene, an industrial solvent and known carcinogen, but insisted it was not used on protesters and was merely “a written-off residue totaling 880 liters.”
In total, 93 witnesses were questioned, including current and former Interior Ministry officers, doctors, experts, and Georgians who spoke to the BBC.
Following the review, the SSG declared the allegations of chemical-agent use “fabricated” and said the documentary appeared to serve “specific hostile objectives” and was part of an “organized campaign against Georgia.”
“Investigative actions regarding the fabricated use of camite are exhausted,” Magradze said. The agency has closed the line of inquiry into possible police misconduct but will continue investigating the case under Article 319 — “assistance to a foreign organization in hostile activity.”
The BBC report, published on December 1, suggested camite could have been added to water cannons used during protests in November and December 2024. It cited pediatrician Konstantine Chakhunashvili, who reviewed symptoms in roughly 350 demonstrators, nearly half of whom reported lingering health effects. It also mentioned a 2019 special-forces inventory document containing the commodity code UN3439 — a code under which camite can fall.
The story sparked significant public and international reaction, with human-rights groups calling for an independent investigation and a temporary suspension of crowd-control equipment sales to Georgia.
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