Case on Irakli Batiashvili Will Be Sent to Strasburg

Seven-year-imprisonment for “Intellectual Support” of the Kodori Gorge Rebel-it is the verdict of the judge at the Civil Court, Maia Tetrauli, which she has passed on a famous politician, former Security Minister and active member of national movement, Irakli Batiashvili few days ago. The accused went on a hunger strike and his case materials are going to be sent to Strasburg.

On July 2006 Special Operative Department detained Batiashvili. He was accused for intellectual support of Emzar Kvitsiani, President’s Representative to Kodori Gorge. The prosecutor claimed that Batiashvili had committed a crime envisaged under the Georgian Criminal Code, Articles 25, 307 and Section III of the Article 315. These articles envisage the fifteen-year-imprisonment. Initially Batiashvili was charged for several crimes and high treason was one of them, which was dropped later on together with two more charges. In April of 2007 the Georgian Parliament removed the law on high treason from the Code and nobody is judged for the crime any more. Thus it has become the reason for discharging Batiashvili from that accusation.

To prove Batiashvili’s intellectual support to rebel people in the gorge, the Prosecutor General’s Office introduced the society with the telephone conversation of Batiashvili and Emzar Kvitsiani. The conversation took place in summer of 2006 during the famous events in the Kodori Gorge. During the conversation, Batiashvili called upon Kvitsiani not to give in though to avoid all kind of bloodshed. In addition to that he asked Kvitisiani to make a statement and called upon the soldiers not to use their guns in order to avoid the bloodshed.

The society cannot notice any kind intellectual support in these words. Batiashvili claims that the record is changed and they have introduced only those phrases to the public which would be useful to blame him. However, neither his lawyer nor the society could hear the support of the rebel in that record.

Before and after the court, we have often heard the following phrases regarding Batiashvili: “personal vengeance”, “political prisoner,” “the prisoner of conscious,” “patriot” and “prominent intelligent.” He has been detained for ten months already. The family was not allowed to see the detainee during that time. With the support of international organizations, Batiashvili has been allowed to meet only his wife lately. As for his sixteen-year-old daughter, she has not seen her father for ten months. One more problem is that Batiashvili’s family is threatened. The wife of the detainee made the statement regarding the threats. She said that armed people attacked her daughter when she was coming back from the “School Farewell Party”. Those people warned her to keep silence and threatened with gun. Batiashvili’s wife said that mediators had been sent to her several times who demanded her to persuade her husband to plead guilty. If he had apologized for the crime, nobody would have bothered him anymore.

On May 22, Batiashvili went on a hunger-strike. He is not going to stop the strike until he renders justice.

Professors, artists, representatives of non-governmental and public organizations prepared and signed a petition on Batiashvili’s case where they demanded to release the accused. His lawyer, Gela Nikoleishvili claims that the society has listened to fraudulent record because some words were cut out of the text which resulted into a changed context. The lawyer had been demanding to carry out expertise on the tape record in vain.

One of the prosecutor’s arguments to sentence Batiashvili to seven-year-imprisonment was that the defense side failed to produce valid proofs to the court.

The defense side is about to go on the discussion of the case in Strasburg Court. Gela Mikoleishvili is sure that they would win the process in Strasburg. He demands to punish everybody who declared innocent person a guilty.

Special committee was set up to protect Batiashvili’s rights and famous people joined it. According to the chairman of the committee and former State Ministry, Goga Khaindrava, they will cooperate with international organizations and will do their best to protect Batiashvili’s rights.

Goga Khaindrava: “Before the case is sent to Strasburg, two more court instances should have discussed it. It depends what their verdicts will be. As for international committee, we will cooperate with human rights international organizations, dissident organizations and those ones who fought against the soviet regime and government, totalitarianism and authoritarianism. We will send them the information about blackmailing Batiashvili’s family. We will inform them that he was a prominent figure in Georgian national movement during the period when ambitious people did their best to join communist union and joined KGB armies in order to create successful diplomatic career. At that time, Batiashvili was devoting his life to Georgia’s interests.”

Eka Gulua