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“Political Heart Attack” in Geguti Prison

September 29, 2011

Zeev Frenkel Is Transferred to Hospital Ward from Reanimation Department

Israeli businessman under arrest Zeev Frenkel has had a heart attack. He had a shunt surgery in one of the new clinics of Kutaisi. As the lawyer of the convict Archil Kbilashvili states the reason of the heart attack was deprivation of medicines sent to the Frenkel. Instead of reaching the addressee, the medicines were left in the doctor’s cabinet.

The newspaper Rezonansi (Resonance) writes about Zeev Frenkel’s heart attack in the article entitled “Political heart attack in Geguti prison/Zeev Frenkel is transferred to the hospital ward from reanimation department.”

According to the article of Rezonansi, several days ago lawyer Archil Kbilashvili spoke about ill-treatment against another Israeli businessman Roni Fuchs. Particularly, the lawyer stated that his client was prohibited to take essential medicines, to walk and that he was intimidated they would plant cocaine. The Israeli media also wrote about it based on the convict’s information.

According to Archil Kbilashvili, both cases are already known for Israeli Embassy in Georgia and Israeli government will soon express its position.

The Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance does not comment on this issue. “The Press Service does not reply to telephone calls or e-mails sent according to their requests,” – notes the journalist of Rezonansi.

“As the prisoner’s lawyer states, till September 13th, Frenkel was in #15 Ksani prison department. On September 13th, he was transferred to Geguti prison without any explanation. His medicines were left in Ksani prison. On September 14th, since the prisoner was not given the essential medicines by the prison administration, the medicines were sent to him. But they were not transferred to the addressee. On September 17th, the medicines were sent once again, but the same happened in this case as well. As a result, Frenkel who had not received necessary medicines for the whole week had a heart attack.”

“He was transferred to Kutaisi Tskhakaia clinic where for two hours he was going under the shunting surgery,” – lawyer Archil Kbilashvili states. According to his information, Frenkel has been transferred to the ward from the reanimation department by now.

Till this fact, the Israeli publication Izrus wrote about the pressure against Roni Fucks, another Israeli convict: “It seems like Georgian government decided to break two Israeli businessmen. Roni Fuchs and Zeev Frenkel who have serving sentence in Georgian prison for a year now talk about constant insult and unlawfulness carried out against them behind the prison bars,” – states Israeli publication and publishes the letter of Roni Fucks which he transferred to his lawyer.

Why are Israeli businessmen under pressure? Kbilashvili has different versions: “The reason could be the fact that the Fuchs vs. Georgia dispute is in final stage in London Court of Arbitration. Fuchs has not changed his position and requests the due money from the state of Georgia. Another version is that Fuchs has been maintaining his initial position for 11 months now and would not acknowledge the imposed charge.”

Expert Gia Khukhashvili evaluates the state of Israeli businessmen: “Government’s silence is the most irrational act. They should prove by every source that all this does not represent truth because if these facts of pressure are confirmed it might have the gravest outcome. This will tense the relationships between two nations. Expert states that we are used to treating Georgian citizens this way but when the case concerns the foreign citizens whose rights are safeguarded by Constitution of their country, we should know that it is a big international crime. According to his explanation, while detaining the businessmen, Israel gave a warning sign to Georgia with postponing the official visits of head of the Parliament and Minister of Economics. If this warning is not understood properly, it might result in heavier outcomes.”

“We should understand that worsening relationships with Israeli will have a heavy chain effect for our country. I am not talking about the interests of government, but about the state interest. That is why I am calling on the government not to take steps that could damage the state. Till this moment I do not want to believe the facts that his lawyer talks about. I am very concerned that government does not comment on this issue. Israeli is not an ordinary country. First of all, many Georgian citizens live in this country. Besides, Israel is a significant part of a serious, big geopolitical knot and if these facts are confirmed it can bring heavy results not just for Israeli, but in relations with our strategic partners. I am calling on the government to punish the criminal or confirm that there were no violations – they should react. Otherwise, there will be bad results,” – stated Gia Khukhashvili with Rezonansi.

from Interpressnews Press Digest

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