Mother of Five Children Went on Hunger Strike in front of the Court Building

Mother of five under-age children went on a hunger strike in front of the Gurjaani District Court. Ema Nozadze, an Ossetian woman, a resident of the village of Kitaani, blames local law enforcers for breaching the law. She protests the court decision under which she was bailed for 2 thousand lari.

On June 22 2007 Gogita Atanelishvili, an investigator for the Internal Ministry’s Gurjaani Department, charged Ema Nozadze under the Georgian Criminal Code Article 239 Section I (hooliganism) and it envisages one-year imprisonment.

“On August 16 2006 Ema Nozadze committed hooliganism that blatantly violated public order and disregarded the society through using violence and threaten. More precisely she insulted and physically assaulted N. Jafarashvili who was selling flowers close to Nozadze’s booth in the Gurjaani Agriculture Market. Nozadze was accused for slight offence because she had never been judged before. She is characterised positively and her freedom does not prevent the process of preliminary investigation. Consequently we mediated to the court about bail and the judge satisfied it,” said Atanelashvili.

Nozadze appealed against the decision of the District Court at the Tbilisi Appeal Court. However, Judge Irakli Zhorzholiani did not discuss the appeal.

Unless Nozadze pays bail before July 15 she will be imprisoned. She said she cannot pay the money because she does not have even a house; she has cancer. The accused is divorced and the only income for her family is allowance from the Poverty Reduction Program.

“I have not committed any crime, neither have I beaten anyone but the policeman is threatening me because I have blamed him for breaching the law in my testimony and on the basis of my statement he was persecuted. Other policemen also help him to retaliate against me. With the support of those policemen Atanelishvili got hold of testimonies of witnesses who claim that I beat Jafarashvili. Nobody paid attention to me at the police station and at the Prosecutor’s Office. The suitor and the policeman are still threatening me to force me out of Georgia. They say I am Ossetian and I must go to Ossetia with my children,” said Ema Nozadze and urges the human rights organizations for help. She has already petitioned to the Human Rights Centre. 

Lawyers for the organization who provide legal aid for Nozadze, investigated the case materials, gathered some information and it revealed that the witnesses had made testimonies under the suppression of policemen. There are not enough evidences to blame Nozadze for slight crime.

In protest, Nozadze went on a hunger strike together with her under-age children in front of the building of Gurjaani District Court. Her children are four, six and seven years old. The accused for hooliganism is not going to stop the strike before trial.

Representatives of the Human Rights Centre said that law enforcers might arrest Nozadze who is going to accuse them for breaching the law. “We are seriously concerned regarding the situation and we call upon the corresponding bodies and Public Defender to react on the problem,” said lawyers for the centre.

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti