Human Rights Center’s Statement on the Detention and 20-Day-Imprisonment of Elita Burji’s Lawyer

During the night of August 7, 2012 people in plain clothes detained Imeda Nikuradze, Elita Burji Ltd’s lawyer, and took him to an undisclosed location. Later it was clarified that he had been detained and was held in the main Tbilisi Police Station.

On August 8, Tbilisi City Court sentenced Imeda Nikuradze to 20-day administrative imprisonment for resisting court executors during the raid of Elita Burji’s office on the night of August 6.

News programs and footage from the scene showed people in plain clothes taking movable private property – vehicles - from the territory of Elita Burji Ltd on August 6. Videos show company lawyers trying to get relevant documents from the people carrying out the operation. The police officers, however, did not produce any search warrant that would have allowed them to carry out the operation on the company’s territory. As a result, some employees of Elita Burji tried to prevent the police from taking away company property.

Human Rights Center believes that the lawyers of Elita Burji Ltd, including the detained lawyer Imeda Nikuradze, acted in accordance with Article 4 of the Georgian Law on lawyers and tried to protect the interests of their client. Article 38 of the same law prohibits interference with the lawyers’ activities and the imposition of liability on the lawyer for verbal or written statements which she/he had provided to the court or administrative agency in accordance with the interests of his/her client.

Considering the abovementioned circumstances, we condemn the interfering, by Georgian authorities, with a lawyer doing his job. We call upon the relevant institutions to stop the persecution of Imeda Nikuradze and release him from administrative imprisonment.

We also call upon the Public Defender of Georgia, the Georgian Bar Association, as well as embassies and international organizations present in Georgia to monitor this case and respond to it appropriately.

Human Rights Center
09.08.2012