European Court of Human Rights Took Up Case of People Killed During Special Operation

Special operation that was carried out in the auto-station “Navtlugi” in Tbilisi at 7:00 pm on January 12, 2006 ended with the death of three young people.

The case was sent to the European Human Rights Court. However, Lasha Jincharauli, attorney of the victim side, stated they are not reported about the exact date of the case discussion at the European Court.

On January 12, 2006 the Constitutional Security Department within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia carried out special operation. Marad Artmeladze, Roman Surmanidze and Shota Gorgadze, residents of Adjara Autonomous Republic, were killed as a result of a special operation. The special operation was conducted based on the letter the Ministry of Justice of Georgia had received on the same day.

Lasha Jincharauli, lawyer for the nongovernmental organization “Article 42 of the Constitution” protects the rights of the killed young men; the lawyer took up the case in June of 2007.

“Prosecutor J. Macharashvili from Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office carried out partial, biased investigation that aimed to justify the activities of the employees of the Constitution Security Department,” said the lawyer.

The search protocol of the scene of accident states that 92 cartridges and one bullet were withdrawn from the place; however only 5 of them were identified. The investigation was not curious about the remaining 87 cartridges.

As for the remaining cartridges, the lawyer could not find out who shot the young men and whom those guns belonged to.

“The investigation relied only on the testimonies of the employees of the Constitutional Security Department who explained that during the special operation they had only “Kalashnikovs” and one pistol.”

The attorney states the Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office had not checked whether the killed people had any connection with the weapon; the defense side doubts the guns were placed near the killed people after they were killed.

 “The prosecutor’s office had to carry out dactyl scope and micro-biological expertise on the automatic guns that were found on the killed men in order to estimate the connection between the killed and the guns.”

“People who acted as witnesses in investigation documents stated they saw several people on their left who were crossing the opposite side of the road… they were shouting at somebody: “Stop, it is police!” then the gunfire was heard from the opposite side of the road and I saw masked people lie down on the road. Nevertheless, the representatives of the CSD stated in their testimonies that criminals made a siege around them,” stated Lasha Jincharauli.

Conclusion of Expertise

According to the criminalist expertise conclusion that was prepared on March 20, 2006 examination of the clothes of one of the killed showed that the man was shot from very close distance. Other shots were made from the distance of 1-1, 5 meters.

According to the expertise, all three killed were shot from the back and the trajectory of the shots is upside down. Whilst the representatives of the CSD claimed in their testimonies some of them were shooting when they were on the ground. In this case the wounds should not have had such a trajectory.

According to the forensic expertise all the three men were killed by automatic guns. The attorney claims the preliminary investigation was not interested to estimate who killed the men and whom the guns belonged to.

Family of the Killed

Roman Surmanidze, one of the killed is a resident of the village of Tsikhisdziri in Kobuleti district; Artmelidze and Gorgadze were residents of Khulo district and they were group-mates at the medical faculty of the Batumi State University.

In parallel to their studies the young men were working physically in Turkey. At the end of December they returned to Georgia and were going to leave for Turkey again.

The parents reported that it was first visit of 20-year-old Roman Surmanidze to Tbilisi.

Otar Surmanidze, father: “My son was declared terrorist. If it is so why the investigation did not search my house? Maybe I am also dangerous for the society.”

“If they were planning to attack Rustavi custody why they should travel to Samgori settlement, Tbilisi? Imprisonment of Gorgadze’s brother is just good reason for law enforcers to justify themselves. Somebody made a speech on TV and pretended to be brother of Shota Gorgadze; it was false; a strange person was introduced to the society to deceive everybody.”

“The witnesses told me all the three killed men were standing on their knees and urging to the policemen not to kill them. Those witnesses avoid giving testimonies because they do not have guarantees for security; I cannot guarantee their safety.”

Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office considered the special operation lawful despite the conclusion of the criminalist expertise and dropped investigation.

The parents of the killed are not found guilty; the case is sent to the European Court of Human Rights.

Maka Malakmadze, Batumi