Law Enforcers Breaking Law

Tamaz Beridze and Durmishkhan Inasaridze are serving two months pre-trial imprisonment for burglary. They were charged on the basis of a testimony made by illiterate witness.

"In Akhltsikhe they stole mini-tractor from one of the houses in Zarzmeli str., two tones of potato in the village of Anda, a calf in the village of Andriatsminda and two saws. All crimes were committed in 2005 and 2006. Policemen detained the offenders", - lawyer for the detainees, Kakhaber Aspanidze stated. Interior Ministry's Akhaltsikhe District Department launched investigation on the burglary. "The investigation is being conducted under Criminal Code, Articles 177 (II, III, IV) which envisage organized crime committed by the group. I can not comment the fact in the interest of its investigation,"- investigator Gocha Jeiranashvili stated.

On October 17, police detained the accused Tamaz Beridze, Durmishkhan Inasaridze and Artur Nakhapetiani, who live in Akhaltsikhe District. Artur Nakhapetiani recalled the fact as the following: "I was in the village of Anda. Policemen arrived there and ordered me: “Get dressed and come along with us, we have some business with you,”-I got surprised and asked what they wanted with me. They repeated the same. In the car they told me: "In the police station you must repeat how everything happened." I inquired what I was to repeat, what had happened? Later I realized that a saw and a tractor had been stolen in the village and they were blaming me for it. Arriving at the police office I met Tazo and Gocha being detained [He could not recall their surnames]. They ordered me to retell everything but I could not say anything. They threatened me to put in a cell and wrote something on the paper. Then they ordered me to sign it. Without having read the paper [I can not read] I signed the paper, since I do not know to write anything except my name”.

As Nakhapetian told us they took him to one place in Akhaltsikhe and forced him to point to the place the abovementioned thing had been stolen from. In case of resistence they threatened him with the arrest. “Thus I obeyed, pointed to the place and they took photo of me. Then I was driven to a cattle-shed in the village of Andriatsminda and the policemen forced me to point to the place there too. They took a photo once more. The same happened in the village of Anda. I signed the documents. After that I spent three days in the cell and they used to give me only drinking water. No food was given to me for that period at all,"- recalled twenty-six-year-old Artur Nakhapetian.

Tamaz Beridze and Durmishkhan Inasaridze were tried after detention. They are serving their two-month pre-trial imprisonment in Tbilisi jail. Their lawyer pays attention to the illicitness committed by the law enforcers. "I defend Tamaz Beridze and Durmishkhan Inasaridze. They are detained illegally, having committed no crime. There is a witness who, according to the police, has committed the crime together with those detainees. That is Artur Nakhapetian who states that he had not stolen anything and he was threatened by policemen.

The aforementioned two men are detained on the basis of that witness' testimony. Whereas in a normal country innocent people should not be detained on the basis of testimonies, made by illiterate witnesses,"-stated the lawyer.

The attorney mentions the document which was submitted to the Interior Ministry's Akhlatsikhe Department by district boarding-school stated the following: 'The document is concerned to certify that Artur Nakhapetiani, born in 1980 and living in Zhdanovi Str. #49, Akhaltsikhe [now Baginashvili Str #34] learned at Akhaltsikhe boarding-school #7 in 1989-97. Artur Nakhapetiani is mentally disabled person."

Examination conducted by Akhaltsikhe Medico-Pedagogical commission concluded that Artur Nakhapetian 'is illiterate, speaks poor Georgian. He can express ideas with difficulty'. Artur Nakhapetian lives in the village of Anda with his wife and father-in-law. He speaks not only about the police oppression but also about having been extorted the money. "When they released me, ordered me to bring five hundred lari in a month. A young boy was standing there and he demanded two hundred lari from me. I have no money. I am a shepherd. How can I get so much money?! I do not know the names of those policemen but I will recognize them,"-said Artur Nakhapetiani.

The Lawyer stated that evidences which are spoken about by the policemen do not exist in fact. "They withdrew a saw from the house of Durmishkhan Inasaridze during the search. Several days later they returned the saw to the detainee's father, having realized that it was not valid evidence. A mini-tractor and some other parts of the saw were withdrawn from Tamazi Beridze's house. There is a witness who had given those things to Tamaz Beridze. However the testimony made by that witness does not include the case material. As for the materials I have not been introduced with them at all. The officials at the police stated that they did not know the people I worked with and thus they did not want to co-operate with me. I will continue with defending these innocent people until they are found not guilty. Law enforcers are breaching the law themselves,"-stated Kakhaber Aspanidze. Both the lawyer and Artur Nakhapetiani are looking forward to the justice. The later is a witness who can not pay the money the policeman demanded from him, earning only three lari a day.

Gulo Kokhodze, Akhaltsikhe