Shocking Testimony of Shop-Owner – Two Dead Bodies Appeared on Shop Roof on May 27, 2011

Oleg Zhvania, the owner of a commercial property in the area of the metro-station Tavisupleba Square recalled an incident on May 27, 2011 when dead bodies were discovered on the shop roof after a peaceful protest demonstration was dispersed on Rustaveli Avenue.

Maestro TV interviewed Oleg Zhvania. He said law enforcement officers had forced him to lie and say that an electrical cable, which was damaged, killed Nika Kvintradze and Suliko Asatiani when they touched it.

“They showed me a cable on the shop roof. It was evident that it had recently been cut. They asked me to say that the cable had been damaged previously and even that I had called Telasi (Tbilisi Electricity Distribution Company) to ask them for repairs. The law enforcement officers also told me they had brought two men from Telasi who could confirm that they had been sent to mend the cable but later they were sent to another place and this particular cable remained damaged; so it became the cause of this accident. I refused, saying I would not get involved in this affair because I knew how those people were killed,” Oleg Zhvania said.

According to him, since law enforcement officers could not get the testimony they desired from him, five days later he was arrested for fabrication of documents. Zhvania spent 4 months in prison, first in Prison # 8 and then in Jail hospital # 18.

“Three months after my arrest I was taken to jail hospital # 18 from prison # 8. In the meantime I had been acquitted of the charges against me. They took me to a room in the jail hospital and started beating me with their fists, legs, truncheons; I fainted several times. I was on the floor and they were kicking me in the abdomen, legs and painful areas,” Oleg Zhvania said.

Shop manager Maia Tsutskiridze said she was also forced to give false testimony about the incident.

“Before the police met with me, employees of the metro station told me bodies were brought at night and taken away in the morning. Somebody saw them but I do not know who exactly witnessed it. Then I was forced to write a statement saying people died because of a damaged cable; so we had to take responsibility for their deaths,” Maia Tsutskiridze said.

According to the official version, after the dispersal of the May 26, 2011 demonstration, law enforcement officers discovered two dead people on the roof of a shop in the area of the metro station. MIA confirmed that demonstrators climbed up onto the shop-roof when running from the demonstration and were killed by damaged cable there.

See video: shop-owner’s story about May 26, 2011

Interpresnews