Judgment on Prison Riot Case to Be Announced in a Week

Salome Chkheidze

Court hearing on the case of prison riot in 2006 has finished. Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze said  the verdict on the accused people Bacho Akhalaia, Megis Kardava, Revaz Charbadze and Davit Chakua will be announced in a week.

At the October 17 trial at the Tbilisi City Court the defense and prosecutor’s parties made final statements. Prosecutor Levan Adeishvili said the evidence obtained during investigation prove the guiltiness of the former defense and interior minister Bacho Akhalaia and other accused people. 

“We believe the crime is fully proved. We presented not only the statements of the victims - so-called thieves-in-law, in this case, but statements of 14 more witnesses, who worked in the penitentiary establishment at that time. Consequently, we believe the guiltiness was fully proved and the court shall pass guilty verdict,” prosecutor Levan Adeishvili said.

Accused Bacho Akhalaia also made final statement at the trial. He said the prosecutor’s office has new tactic – planting witnesses instead weapon and drugs, and he hopes for the impartial judgment of the court.

“We had legitimacy to be in the prison territory and took legitimate measures. Six years later Mr. Prosecutor blames us in committing a crime. It is very strange but it can also be explained – I do not know whether Mr. Prosecutor knows that his boss Mr. Kbilashvili [Chief Prosecutor of Georgia] was lawyer of the thieves-in-law at that time,” Akhalaia said at the trial.

Bacho Akhalaia was accused in the case of Prison Riot on March 1, 2013. According to the prosecutor’s office, in spring of 2006, Bachana Akhalaia decided to hash away rumors and information spread about physical assault and degrading of prison inmates by him when being drunk. He made a plan and shared it with the so-called thief-in-law P. M. Akhalaia told him he had to meet prisoner Z. V. so called “supervisor” of the prison, in the prison corridor in front of the preliminarily installed video-camera. P.M. had to speak with Z.V. about unbearable conditions created for criminal lords in the prison and had to blame Akhalaia in it. Then he had to offer Z.V. to find an inmate who would have injured himself and then complained as if Akhalaia had physically assaulted him. Afterwards, Akhalaia would have published the video-footage of Z.V. and P. M’s conversation to convince society that the spread rumors about inhuman treatment of prison inmates were invented by criminal lords to discredit the penitentiary department.

“P.M. and Z. V. met but the former did not implement Akhalaia’s order and said nothing in front of the camera. In order to revenge him, at 1:00 am on March 27, 2006 Bachana Akhalaia together with Megis Kardava and Revaz Charbadze, director of Prison # 7 Giorgi Poladashvili and several members of special unit entered the jail hospital and demanded to bring convicted P. M. and Z. V. to the director’s working room to punish them. Akhalaia showed P.M. the video-footage and told him he would be punished for not implemented instruction. Afterwards, Megis Kardava started to cut off the prisoner’s hair to discredit him in front of other criminals and put it in his pocket. Then Akhalaia tried to provoke them by asking the date and Z.V. responded to him that he also knew the date and Akhalaia puked him in the face. Z.V. slapped him in the face and after that Akhalaia, Charbadze, Kardava and special unit officers beat prisoners. In parallel to it, Akhalaia called special unit of the Penitentiary Department to the jail hospital. They dragged beaten prisoners to the prison yard and ruthlessly beat them in front of other prisoners. It caused protest by other prisoners that later turned into riot,” the prosecutor said in his final statement.

Bachana Akhalaia is charged under Article 332 Part III –“b” and “c” of the Criminal Code of Georgia (abuse of power),” the statement of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office reads. Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze said the judgment will be supposedly delivered in a week; the parties will be notified about the exact date in advance.