Prosecutor’s Office protects high-ranking police official who wounds man

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

“Otar Dioghmelashvili, the deputy head of the police department, hit my face against the car with and I broke out four teeth.  Several other teeth cut into in my lips. My face is swollen and my jaw is now broken. When I was brought to the Judge Tamaz Jaliashvili I was bleeding and nobody inquired what had happened with me. The judge believed the false testimonies of the police who claimed that I was injured as a result of falling down and sent me to prison for seven days for resisting arrest,” said Gela Kutibashvili.

The incident happened in the village of Tsnori in Sighnaghi District short time ago. In the evening a car moving on the opposite side signed the driver of the mini-bus to stop the car. Gela Kutibashvili, the resident of the village of Sakobo in Sighnaghi District, did not stop the mini-bus and the strange car chased him. Several minutes later Kutibashvili stopped at the petrol station and he was called from the car stopped nearby. The driver was asked to produce documents. “I approached the car and asked who they were and why they were asking for my documents. The person sitting next to the driver felt insulted at my question and grabbed a wallet from my hands. I demanded him to return the money and said if he needed the documents he could check the wallet only after I took money from it. Several minutes later the stranger showed me the opened wallet and asked smiling where my money was. Then he started to curse me and I cursed back too. Suddenly, he hit me against the car with my head; I was badly injured,” said Kutibashvili.

The victim learned that he was beaten by the deputy head of the Sighnaghi District Police Department after he recognized the police officer by the name of Tamazashvili sitting in the car.

Tamazashvili wrote an administrative protocol on crime where he stated that Kutibashvili was drunk in public and not in control of himself. He did not obey the police officers when they asked him follow them to the police station. When the detainee was sitting into the car he hit his chin on the car and suffered injuries to his face. Written explanations of the police officers, Khandloshvili and Mevlupishvili are attached to the protocol where they are introduced as eye-witnesses to factual event. Kutibashvili insisted that the police officers were dressed in civil clothes and Dighmelashvili was drunk. Besides that Khandolishvili and Mevlupishvili were not on the scene of the incident. The detainee stated that police officers were near the petrol station but approached them only after he shouted for help when he was badly injured.

After administrative charge was imposed on Kutibashvili, who needed immediate medical assistance, was placed in the isolator of the Sighnaghi district police department. “They brought the chief doctor of the district hospital who pulled out my teeth without any painkillers. He did not treat my wounds and they are infected; pus is leaking from my wounds. 18 hours after detention I was taken to Tsnori Hospital where I took medical treatment on my own expenses. I have lost ten teeth; I cannot eat and drink water only with straw,” said Kutibashvili who needs 21,207 GEL to pay the entire course of medical treatment and other compensation.

A criminal investigation was launched under the Criminal Code Article 332, Paragraph I at the Sighnaghi District Court (abusing one’s power). The investigation found Kutibashvili victim though none of his demands have been yet satisfied. 

“We demanded to charge Otar Dighmelashvili for the incident and that he should be terminated from his post. However the court failed to satisfy our demands. Gela Kutibashvili applied to the Prosecutor’s Office to find him a civil suitor and Otar Dighmelashvili a civil defendant. Inga Jabanashvili, the Sighnaghi District Prosecutor did not satisfy the appeal because “criminal investigation is on-going regarding the incident. Currently, the provided materials cannot enable her to launch criminal persecution against Dighmelashvili.”

It must be noted that Sighnaghi Prosecutor’s office has taken sides over this incident, which was readily observed on several occasions: Although I had provided the order to confirm that I intended to protect the interests of Kutibashvili, Ioseb Guloshvili, Sighnaghi district prosecutor, prevented me to carry out my responsibilities as an attorney. When I arrived at the hospital to see my client, the police officers forced me out of the building. Besides that, the prosecutor’s office, in order not to prevent the investigation from estimating the truth, demands to arrest innocent people. In this particular case, Dighmelashvili is the deputy head of the police department, and witnesses are police who are subordinated to him, it becomes clear that they cannot state the truth that might discredit their boss. The prosecutor’s office has not done anything,” said Lia Khuroshvili, lawyer for the Human Rights Center, who protects the rights of the victim,

According to the lawyer Tengiz Bezhashvili Otar Dighmelashvili this is not the first time that this police office has beaten someone.  Officials from the Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office have not commented over the incident.