Lawyers Protest Against Juvenile’s Ten Year Imprisonment

Lawyers Protest Against Juvenile’s Ten Year Imprisonment

On June 30th a court sentenced 14 year old George Zerekidze to ten years imprisonment. Zerekidze was imprisoned for wounding citizen Bochorishvili with a knife. Human Rights organizations are protesting against the court’s decision and speak about the investigation being unfair. 

The incident took place in January 2006 after Zerekidze had a dispute with the magazine distributor. Zerekidze noticed that the victim was parking his car in the spot where his father usually parks his vehicle. The dispute developed into a fight and Zerekidze slightly injured Bochorishvili with a knife.

During his first testimony, Bochorishvili said that Zerekidze had tried to rob him and that was the reason for the fight. Eye-witnesses and Zerekidze himself deny any attempt at robbery. Later, Bochorishvili acknowledged that his first statement was a lie and that he had been forced by the head guard of a shop to make it. However, the Court did not take this into the consideration and sentenced Zerekidze to ten years imprisonment.

Human Rights NGOs and the Ombudsman’s Office have protested against the decision. The Children’s Centre of Tbilisi Municipality also reacted to the case. According to Magda Kotrikadze, the Centre’s lawyer, sentencing a juvenile to ten years, if he is has not been involved in serious crime, is unbelievable.

“The Judge has not considered the whole set of evidence. Eye-witnesses stated that Zerekidze did not ask for money from Bochorishvili during the fight. Unfortunately, the judge only considered his first statement and did not take into consideration the fact that the first testimony was given under intimidation. This is a violation of the law. Zerekidze was accused of a crime he did not commit,” declares Kotrikadze.

Zerekidze was charged with three articles of the Criminal Code; article 19 (an unfinished crime), article 108 (attempted murder) and article 179 (robbery). As for the victim, Bochorishvili, his injuries were not at all serious and he only spent an hour in the hospital.

Lawyers are protesting against the wrongful conviction. Magda Kotrikadze states, “The Grocery was robbed several times in the past. It’s likely that the investigators wanted to connect the cases. That is why they said that Zerekidze tried to attack Bochorishvili”.

According to information from David Modebadze, Zerekidze’s lawyer, several people gave false testimonies.

Nino Togonidze, a lawyer with the Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre and coordinator of the project ‘Juvenile Justice Administration Reform in Georgia’: “The judge wrongly classified the case - Zerekidze should be charged under article 120 of Criminal Code and should be imprisoned for a period of one year. According to article 179, ‘robbery is an attack, committed to misappropriate someone’s property using a threat’. If the robbery really took place, Zerekidze should be charged under this article. It is obvious that 14 year old Zerekidze has been sentenced to ten years illegally.”

NGOs plan to organize protests to support the juvenile prisoner and hope that a just decision will be made.

Eka Gulua