Web Portal on Human Rights in Georgia

With this statement Public Defender responded to the July 27 reports released by media outlets featuring Nodar Chachua speaking about threats against him.

“The Public Defender believes that explanatory note delivered from Nodar Chachua contains the signs of crime punishable by the Criminal Code of Georgia and, accordingly, it is within the competence of the investigatory bodies to study the aforementioned fact and respond in an appropriate manner,” the statement by Public Defender reads.

On July 27 Public Defender’s representatives met and took an explanatory note from Nodar Chachua. Following Chachua’s explanatory note Public Defender gives the following description of the case:

“On July 23, 2012, at about 18:00, on Melikishvili Street in Tbilisi, a stranger had asked him to sit in a car standing nearby in which two more persons were waiting for him. As soon as he sat in the car, the strangers assaulted him verbally, showed him a video describing his private life, and told him that they would publicize the video unless he fulfilled their demands. As the journalist points out, the strangers did not tell him their names; they only explained that they were employees of the “service” and were able to create problems for him. 

The aforementioned persons met the journalist again on July 26, 2012, and continued a similar rhetoric.”

In parallel to Public Defender’s statement, on July 30 Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia released a statement on the threats leveled against journalist Nodar Chachua of TV 9.

The statement points out that the investigation into possible threats against Nodar Chachua was launched at the investigative department of the Prosecutor’s Office in Tbilisi on July 30, 2012.

“The launch of the investigation was based on Nodar Chachua’s application. The investigation is carried out in accordance to Article 151 (Threatening) of the Criminal Code of Georgia, the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office reads.

According to Article 151 of the Criminal Code of Georgia “The threat of death or damage to health or destroying property in case the person being threatened has reasonable fear that the threat will be carried out, shall be punishable by fine or socially useful labour extending from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and eighty hours in length or corrective labour for up to one year in length or by jail sentence for up to one year in length.”

Media.ge