Human Rights Center’s Lawyer to Defend Akhmed Chataev at Trial

Elene Chumburidze

Akhmed Chataev, arrested during the special operation in Lopota Gorge, is in pretrial detention without any factual evidence. Human Rights Center Demands Freedom of Akhmed Chataev. On October 23, the head of HRC’s legal aid center Nino Andriashvili visited Chataev in detention.

According to the official version, on August 28, five young people were kidnapped from Lapankuri village of Telavi district in Lopota Gorge. In response to this incident, Georgian MIA carried out an anti-terrorist operation, as a result of which two MIA officers, a military doctor and 11 militants were killed. Chechen people who survived the operation told a completely different version of this story. They said nobody had kidnapped any young men. Georgian MIA had promised the group of armed Chechen militants to help them travel to Chechnya but then refused them. So, the militants decided to independently continue their way, which resulted in deaths and injuries of most of them by Georgian riot police officers.

After the operation, the citizen of the Russian Federation from North Caucasus Akhmed Chataev was placed in a Georgian penitentiary establishment under a completely obscure accusation; he was the personal representative of Doku Umarov in Europe. 

According to ICK, Akhmed Chataev handed himself over to Georgian law enforcement officers on September 8. 32-year-old Chataev recalled the details of the incident, saying that on August 28 the head of the Kakheti regional office of the anti-terrorist department of the MIA Sandro Amiridze and another man cooperating with this department, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, asked him to come to the gorge. He came there from Tbilisi.

“Sandro Amiridze and Zelimkhan Khangoshvili called me on August 28 and told me I had to immediately travel to Lopota Gorge and take part in negotiations. I knew that a group of Chechens and Kists intended to travel to Chechnya via Dagestan and they [Georgian MIA officials] were assisting the group. Amiridze and Khangoshvili told me on phone that the situation had changed; our brothers were under siege. I quickly came to Lopota. Amiridze said that the men had to put down their guns and surrender. I went to the gorge to negotiate with the Chechens and Kists. There were 17 people there. I personally knew most of them. When I told them the message of the MIA officials, the men said that if the MIA would not allow them to cross the border, they would return back, but they would not give up their guns as the police were armed too. I told their message to Amiridze and Khangoshvili on the phone. They gave me several minutes to consider our final answer. I was sitting on a hill for 10-15 minutes when suddenly a sniper shot me in the left leg. I did not have a gun with me. I rolled down the hill; I wanted to hide. I had a cell phone and some chocolate with me. I broke the telephone and threw it away to prevent them from finding me by detecting its location. Afterwards, I heard gunshots which lasted for about 2 hours. I was hiding for 10 days; I could not walk; the wound was getting worse and worse; finally I approached a customs checkpoint. The border guards immediately recognized me and paid attention to me. They treated my wound as they could; it was hot season at that time and the wound was seriously infected. They were surprised how I had survived without food and water for 10 days. Then they called senior officials; they came, put me in a vehicle and took me to Tbilisi. From there I was taken to Gori hospital where doctors amputated my leg. That happened on September 8; I spent ten days in hospital,” Akhmed Chataev said.

Akhmed Chataev has been in prison since September 18. Pretrial detention was imposed on him for illegal possession of explosives. A pretrial hearing of his case is scheduled for October 29. Head of Human Rights Center’s legal aid center Nino Andriashvili will defend his rights at trial. During her meeting with Chataev, she learned the detainee’s position about the case.

“Georgian law enforcement officers appointed him to be a mediator between them and militants but later they declared him to be a perpetrator too. According to case materials, two hand-grenades were discovered on him. I asked the accused about it and he said the law enforcement officers had not even “planted” hand-grenades on him. Simply, they wrote in the report that two hand-grenades were discovered. Tests were not conducted to establish whether hand-grenades were really found on him or not. As a rule, chemical tests for micro-elements must be carried out in order to prove that these hand-grenades were really taken from Chataev’s pocket. He denies accusations and alleges he did not see hand-grenades at all. He said if he had committed a crime, he would not have surrendered himself to border guards. There is no other evidence to prove the guilt of Chataev except the border guards’ testimonies.”

Nino Andriashvili said Akhmed Chataev lives in Austria with refugee status. One of his wives,an ethnic Chechen woman, lives in Pankisi Gorge and Chataev came to Georgia to see her.