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Investigation into the abuse of power by police officers is dragged out

April 20, 2018
 
Natia Gogolashvili

Today, at the press-conference, the lawyers of Human Rights Center requested timely investigation into the abuse of power by police officers. HRC requests effective and timely investigation into the violence fact against T.B, K.Sh, N.A and K.Kh from the side of the police officers, who were arrested on January 13, 2016. The organization requests to grant victim status to them.

Samtskhe-Javakheti regional prosecutor’s office started investigation into alleged abuse of power by the police officers of the Samtskhe-Javakheti police department of the MIA. The incident happened on January 13, 2016 in Akhaltsikhe, when law enforcement officers broke into house of K.Kh through violating lawful procedures and used inadequate power against T.B, K.Sh, N.A and K.Kh. They physically abused underage child of K.Kh.

“Police officers broke into the house of the convicted woman and physically assaulted the people who were in the house. The convicted woman heard how they were beating her underage child in the next room. The police officers made her, the beaten, walk several kilometers because they did not have car to drive her to the police unit. The woman was beaten and tortured in the police unit. Her fingers were broken because she refused to sign the confession statement. The other convicts were beaten until they lost conscious. Afterwards, all four convicts were taken to the pretrial detention setting but the administration could not accept them because their health conditions were not adequate to place them in the facility. The detainees needed medical assistance. The police officers demanded them to sign the already prepared testimonies. None of the convicts admit the crime and try to prove their innocence in the Appeal Court,” the HRC lawyer Dimitri Nozadze said. 

HRC lawyer Eka Kobesashvili said when passing the guilty verdict, the court relied on the confession testimony of one of the witnesses, who also allegedly participated in the robbery. He signed plea-agreement with the prosecutor’s office. However, it is noteworthy that this person had been convicted for fake testimonies twice in the past. 

“The convicted woman was leader of the local nongovernmental organization, which was very active in Samtskhe-Javakheti region; she actively reported about the problems in the region, in particular about illegal cutting of fire-wood in Samtskhe-Javakheti. The other three convicts were also members of the NGO,” Eka Kobesashvili said.

It is important to note that during the robbery one of the family members died. She was wounded by knife. The Akhaltsikhe district court acquitted all four persons in the murder that means nobody is convicted for the murder.

Human rights defenders stated that HRC works several cases where police officers abused their power. The lawyers request timely and effective investigation into those cases. They said the victim status of the victims is very important so that advocates could have access to the case files. 

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