Conservators Think Arrested Scientist Is a Political Prisoner

Conservators blame the government in persecution of Vladimir Vakhania who is in pre-trial detention. They demand to release him immediately.

Today, at the briefing, Conservator Kakha Kukava stated that last week Human Rights Commission of the Conservative Party discussed the case of Vladimir Vakhania who is in pre-trial detention. The commission concluded that he is arrested on political grounds. He was arrested because Vakhania was going to establish a political organization in Zugdidi.

“On March 11, 2009, law enforcement officers arrested Vladimir Vakhania and he was charged for the second part of Article 154 – preventing journalist from his/her professional activities, and Article 236 Part I – illegal purchase, storage and usage of gun of the Criminal Code of Georgia. He was sentenced to pre-trial detention. Dactylographic examination was not carried out on the gun. Witnesses stated they had not participated in the search and their signatures on the report were falsified. Furthermore, Vakhania is a doctor of law and honorable scientist; this fact makes the charge more groundless”, stated Kukava.

According to Kukava, imprisonment of Vakhania for seizing the cassette from a journalist was not serious claiming.

“Similar charge is not serious because Georgian police has been beating Georgian and foreign journalists and destroying their cassettes and cameras recently. The real reason of his detention was his intention to establish opposition political movement in Zugdidi which would organize rallies in the Samegrelo region. Any political activist from the Samegrelo region is painful for the government and the opposition opinion is persecuted in this region. We think that Vladimir Vakhania is a political prisoner and demand his freedom”, stated Kukava.

Source: Medianews