Blackmailed Witnesses vs. Chief of Akhmeta Police Department

Blackmailed Witnesses vs. Chief of Akhmeta Police Department

Several witnesses accuse the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Akhmeta Police Department of violating their human rights. They claim that Levan Shashiashvili, the Police Chief, forced them to give false testimonies (on the behalf of the police) by blackmailing them with threats of persecution if they did not comply.

Pavle Parnaozishvili did not refuse to be a witness for the police. He says that along with his friend, he participated as a witness in 15 cases, investigated by Levan Shatirishvili. “The first time they contacted me, I was asked to attend a search. At first they found nothing during the search; however, they eventually ‘discovered’ drugs. They filled out the necessary documentation and demanded I sign it. The second time I had to agree to attend a search because they threatened me, saying if I disobeyed them they would hold up my small scrap-iron business. When they contacted me for a third time, I refused to participate in their acts, thus, I was called to the police department, where the Chief of Police threatened to detain me”, says Pavle Parnaozishvili.

Parnaozishvili also recalled another incident that took place: “On 29 December, 2004, the Deputy Chief of Police ordered me to go with him to attend a search. They searched the house of someone named Tsatiashvili in the village of Zemo Khalatsani - but found nothing. At the end of the search, everybody was forced out of the house. Only one of Tsatiashvili’s sons remained in the house. A police officer conducted a second search and found some drugs on the window - drugs that he had put them himself just beforehand. A member of the Tsatiashvili family noticed it and protested immediately. A police officer assaulted him with a gun. I do not know where they filled out the documentation but I was forced to sign the search warrant in the Police Department.  I was a witness during the trial where I told the truth. Soon after, I was taken to the Police Department where I was both verbally and physically assaulted. I was detained for several days. I was only released after I changed the testimony I had given in court”.

Levan Shashiashvili denies all the accusations against him. “We have never blackmailed anybody. I have heard the name Pavle Parnaozishvili but never forced him to be a witness. May be somebody pressed him to give false testimony at the trial; however, we never do that. By the way, why do you ask such questions?”

Lia Khuroshvili, a lawyer with the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center, also speaks about the intimidation of citizens by police in Akhmeta. “Current events in the Akhmera region are an obvious confirmation of the severe violations implemented by the police there. Pavle Parnaozishvili is not the only person who has been forced to be a witness for the police. Being a police witness means that a person has to testify on behalf of the police. People are forced to do it because of threats made by the police”, says Lia Khuroshvili.

In an interview with the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center, other witnesses also confirmed the above facts - though they do not dare speak out.

Gela Mtivlishvili from Kakheti