Lawyer from Zugdidi Blames Victim Side for Suppression

Lawyers of Emzar Rogava, Jeiran Kharebava and Emzar Gvilia, who were accused for robbery, blame employees of the Police Department and Prosecutor’s Office for bias investigation. Londa Shamugia, lawyer for Rogava, cast doubt on investigator Davit Khazalia’s impartiality because he had not interrogated the witnesses of defense side for six month of preliminary investigation. Consequently the investigator could not find any valid proofs in the case except the testimonies of the victims. Bachuki Kurashvili, lawyer for Gvilia and Kharebava complained about the same situation. Kurashvili intends to mediate to the court not to find the expertise conclusion as a valid proof while discussing the case.

The lawyers are particularly concerned by the expertise conclusions about the materials withdrawn from the scene of crime. According to the conclusion of the dactyl scope examination, the finger prints of the accused people do not coincide with the ones withdrawn from the scene. However, the preliminary investigation tried to reinforce their suspicions by the conclusion of the odor test. The defense side and the accused men were not introduced with the conclusions before the trial. The lawyers claimed that they were unsuccessfully looking for those conclusions at the Police Department, Prosecutor’s Office and Court for twenty days.  

The lawyers stated that the investigator had made serious mistake in the bill of particulars. Londa Shamugia: “I do not know what intentions investigator Davit Khazalia had when he changed the first paragraph of the bill of particulars that was to be sent to the National Bureau for Expertise. There he changed the initially mentioned “two masks” into “one” that were withdrawn from the scene of crime as proofs. The document that was signed by the lawyers mentioned only one mask. The reply from the National Bureau for Expertise was as vague as the bill of particulars itself.”

Bachuki Kurashvili: “It is incredible that robbers used one mask during a robbery. Victims claimed in their testimonies that all six criminals had masks on. The odor expertise showed that one mask had odor of three robbers.”

On October 11, Judge Jeiran Morgoshia for the Zugdidi District Court started the discussion of the case. Victim side was forced to appear at the trial. Kote, Natela, Eto and Gela Sherozias expressed their protest to Zugdidi district law enforcers. The victim side expressed their mistrust to investigator Khazalia and their lawyer, Dariko Tordia. Later on, the victims appealed to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office against above-mentioned people.

Lawyer Dariko Tordia refused to defend the interests of Sherozias since the victim side started to suppress and blackmail her. “They demanded me to falsify the conclusion of the expertise. They attacked me in the office and tried to disperse it. Natela Sherozia told me that she paid me the money to conduct the case in her favor. They offered me additional money if I falsified the conclusion of the expertise.”

The lawyers discovered the corrected and added sentences in the initial testimonies of the victims. The situation demonstrates the biasness of the prosecutor, Levan Sajaia. Zugdidi District Court will renew the discussion of the case on October 22.

Nana Phazhava, Zugdidi