Based on the application of Human Rights Center the prosecutor’s office re-opened investigation into the case of the physical assault of the citizen by police officers but the prosecutor’s office put the same investigator in charge of the investigation, who superficially and partially carried out the initial investigation, which was finally dropped.
The case of L.Sh is another good example to prove that it is impossible to effectively investigate the crimes committed by law enforcement officers in the current system and it is urgently important to create independent investigative body.
On December 24, 2013, officers of the Rustavi police unit # 3 physically and verbally assaulted L. Sh during the detention. Later, in his statement to the prosecutor’s office L.Sh wrote the names of the concrete police officers, who participated in his abuse. Despite that, the investigation was not carried out properly, the case circumstances, evidence, witness statements were not studied substantially and in the end, on March 15, 2014, the prosecutor in charge made decision to cancel the criminal investigation into the case.
In 2016, Human Rights Center addressed the prosecutor’s office and noted that the investigative bodies had not studied the evidence in the case substantially that could become ground of different decision. The organization alleged that based on the recently discovered circumstances (witness testimony) in the complex with other evidence, it was necessary to re-open the investigation.
Based on the petition of Human Rights Center the resolution on suspending the criminal investigation was annulled and the investigation renewed. Although the Center appealed the Chief Prosecutor’s Office to appoint different investigator in charge of the renewed investigation, the prosecutor’s office still refuses to change the investigator and appoint a new one, who will not be directly or indirectly interested in the investigation result.
The faulty practice in the prosecutor’s office underlines the necessity of systemic changes, namely it is establishment of independent investigative body, which will be authorized to investigate the crimes committed by law enforcement officers.
Human Rights Center