Three Men Sentenced to 16 Years of Prison for Rape

In August, 2007 an under aged girl was raped in Signagi. Nukri Nikvashvili, Zurab Zedelashvili and Zviad Kokoashvili were charged with this crime.  Later Signagi District Court sentenced each of them to 16 years in prison.

The associates of defendants say that Nugzar Lazariashvili, Signagi District Prosecutor misled the investigation and they claimed that the investigation was biased.

The parents of the defendants told Radio Hereti that “Lia Mindiashvili and Davit Abulashvili are the real offenders and they were named by the victim in her initial testimony. However, the investigation intentionally did not express an interest in them as having committed the rape.”

Eka Kutibashvili, Nukri Nikvashvili’s wife stated that the victim had changed her testimony because her family had financial interests (the victim’s family wanted to extort money from the defendants).

The Radio Hereti tried to find out during the case investigation why the victim had changed her testimony. However, their attempt was without result.

The families of the accused are planning to appeal the Signagi District Court’s decision in a higher court of law. If they are unable to find justice in Georgia they will take the case to the European Court in Strasbourg.

Source: Radio Hereti