Head of Vashalomidze’s Security Service Physically Assaulted a Woman in His Office

Maka Malakmadze, Adjara

Lela Abesadze - former neighbor of the head of Adjara Government Levan Varshalomidze said the head of his security service – Vakhtang Kazazishvili beat her in the building of Adjara Government. Abesadze had bruises and injuries on the legs. Police station # 3 is investigating the fact.

Lela Abesadze said the incident occurred in the office of Vakhtang Kazazishvili in the building of Adjara government on August 21, 2011.

“He was shouting at me and saying that I was insulting him. As he was approaching me I went towards the window; he was ruthlessly beating me in the knees and hips. His driver looked into the room and told him – you should take her to the forest and bound to the tree. Hearing these words, I got terrified,” said Lela Abesadze.

Kazazishvili personally invited Lela Abesadze to his office: “I visited him in the office several times and left letters with his security guards. Finally, I went to his office at 11:00 am on August 20. I was told Kazazishvili was out, so I went to his house. His wife opened the door. I told her I wanted to see her husband. In the evening I met Kazazishvili near the Varshalomidzes’ house. He left the area without listening to me. Nest day, at 3:00 pm, when I approached the building of Adjara government, Kazazishvili was getting off the car and told me: “Come to my office, I want to talk with you.”

Abesadze had been requesting Kazazishvili to keep his promise made in 2007, so she accompanied him into the office. “He started threatening me on the stairs – “do you know what you have dared?” – I guessed that he was very angry but could not imagine that he would assault me in the governmental office. When we entered his office, he started shouting at me and approached me kicking with knees. Because of noise, his deputy Kakha Tugushi and driver (supposedly Gia is his name) looked into the room but soon locked the door.”

Before the incident, Lela Abesadze was reminding Kazazishvili his promise. “I was sending petitions to Kazazishvili during several months. I was requesting him to keep the promise which he had given me when I was compelled to leave my house next to the Levan Varshalomidze’s house in 2007. I request them to buy two-room flat in my old district instead my old flat. I am not asking them much; I want to live in the city center as I always lived.”

On August 21 Vakhtang Kazazishvili threatened Lela Abesadze with suing her in the police for having insulted him. “He told me I would be put in prison either for three months or fined with 500 GEL. So, I got afraid. Finally, I decided to apply to doctor for the expertise. I was not going to appeal to the police because I know how they would have treated me. However, medical notification would have been an advantage for me. The doctor examined me but could not get the notification as it cost 20 GEL and I could not pay it.”

On August 24, investigator of the Batumi police station # 3 Aleksandre Rodinadze interrogated Lela Abesadze. The investigator does not comment on the fact. The case materials do not contain the expertise conclusion yet. We were told at the Batumi Bureau of the Medical Expertise that conclusion on the injuries on Lela Abesadze’s body was not prepared yet. “Doctor has to prepare conclusion in the period of 15 days or the term is unlimited.”

The Human Rights Center called Vakhtang Kazazishvili to get comments but having heard the name of the organization, he said he could not hear us. We tried to call him back three times but cut off the line for the same reason. We think, Kazazishvili avoided talking on the topic with us.

Lela Abesadze is a former neighbor of the Varshalomidze’s. Abesadze and eight more families lived in one residential building together with Varshalomidzes; nowadays, the entire building belongs only to the Varshalomidzes. Lela Abesadze was the only neighbor who publicly complained about the eviction conditions offered by the Varshalomidzes. Finally, Lela Abesadze moved from the Batumi center to Chavchavadze Street in 2007. She registered her 14 sq. meter flat on Vakhtang Kazazishvili. Now, the flat in Baratashvili Street # 20, as well as other 8 flats– with total space of 539, 71 sq. meters, belong to the Varshalomidzes. Before 2003, the Varshalomidzes owned only one flat in the building.

Lela Abesadze publicly protested the registration of her flat on other people. She was placed in police detention setting two times from where she was taken to police station # 3 after 5-day imprisonment. From there, she was sent to mental hospital: “That time minister of healthcare Mamuka Nakashidze called and requested Doctor Oleg Negedeev to diagnose that I had mental problems but the doctor categorically refused.”

Lela Abesadze said the only way for her self-defense was to make the problem public. “I started to speak about it in public because they could have done worse with me. I am a woman and while he insulted me in his office, he could have dared much worse.”

Lela Abesadze does not connect the incident with Kazazishvili with Varshalomidzes. “I do not know what happened now, but in the past, Dodo Papunaishvili, Varshalomidze’s mother, requested Kazazishvili to arrest me. The doctors can check my mental health but then they should examine Kazazishvili too.”