Georgian riot police used a World War One-era chemical weapon known as “camite” against anti-government protesters in Tbilisi last year, a BBC Eye investigation has found.
“You could feel the water burning,” one protester said after water cannon soaked him and others. The burning sensation, he added, could not be washed off immediately.
Demonstrators who opposed the government’s suspension of EU accession talks reported prolonged symptoms: shortness of breath, coughing and vomiting that lasted weeks.
Doctor’s survey uncovers long-term damage
Paediatrician Dr Konstantine Chakhunashvili, himself was sprayed during the protests that began 28 November 2024, conducted a peer-reviewed study published in Toxicology Reports.
Of almost 350 respondents hit by crowd-control measures in the first week, nearly half suffered side-effects for over 30 days; headaches, fatigue, persistent coughs and vomiting.
Sixty-nine examined in person showed significantly higher rates of abnormal heart electrical signals.
Whistleblowers identify the agent
Former head of weaponry for Georgia’s Special Tasks Department, Lasha Shergelashvili, told the BBC the substance matched one he tested in 2009 for use in water cannon.
After exposure, he and 15–20 colleagues struggled to breathe and could not wash off the effects, even with baking soda solution. He recommended against its use, yet the vehicles were loaded with it until at least 2022, when he left the country.
Watching footage of the 2024 protests from Ukraine, he immediately recognised the same compound. Serving colleagues still in post confirmed it remains in use.
Another senior ex-officer verified the same chemical has been deployed since Mr Shergelashvili’s time.
Camite – the forgotten WW1 weapon
A leaked 2019 police inventory listed two unnamed substances: “Chemical liquid UN1710” (trichloroethylene) and “Chemical powder UN3439”.
World-leading toxicologist Prof Christopher Holstege assessed the evidence for the BBC and concluded the only riot-control agent matching UN3439 is bromobenzyl cyanide – camite – developed by France in WW1 and phased out in the 1930s over health fears.
Mr Shergelashvili described the tested compound as “probably 10 times” stronger than normal CS gas, lingering for days even after washing.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry dismissed the findings “absurd” and insisted police acted legally against “brutal criminals”.
Source: BBC
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