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Attorneys of Victim and Accused Fight Together for Justice

April 13, 2005

Attorneys of Victim and Accused Fight Together for Justice

Tbilisi.12.04.05.MediaNews. An unprecedented took place in Georgia when the attorneys of an accused man and his alleged victim held a united press conference to talk about incidents of torture and human rights abuse.

On April 8th, 2005, Police officials of the Isani-Samgori District Police, among them Roland Abramishvili, inspector for the criminal police, detained Alekseevka resident Velod Samsiani right in front of his house.  He is being accused of robbery and car theft, for which he could face 8 to 15 years in prison.

According to Kakha Khvastaria, attorney for the defense, Samsiami has been sentenced to three-months of pre-trial custody in spite of the fact that the alleged victim Davit Gurashvili denies that he was ever attacked by Samsiani,
 
According to Lasha Elbakidze, the victim’s attorney, Gurashvili signed a false testimony against the accused after being subjected to physical and psychological pressure. In fact, the supposed victim does not know Samsiani, only seeing him for the first time in the Court Hall when he was shown in by an escort. Moreover, the victim was also forced to testify against Joni Galustiani, who is a friend of the accused, saying that he was an accomplice in the criminal attack.

According to the attorney, it became clear after the preliminary investigation that Galustiani was not in Georgia on April the 8th.

The attorneys claimed that Roland Abramishvili had a private interest in the matter, and that he saw an incident that happened on April the 8th as an opportunity to settle some kind of personal vendetta against Samsiani. On that day in Alekseevka, two people asked Davit Gurashvili to give them a ride in his own private car, which caused a serious row. After the incident the two people managed to hide from the police, but Gurashvili was taken to the local police station, where he was pressured into signing a false statement.

The police arrested Samsiani on the same evening; at that time inspector Roland Abramishvili even used his gun, though this was unnecessary as Samsiani did not try to run or resist arrest.

Samsiani’s attorney says that at this stage, the main thing is to free the accused from unlawful detention, and that afterwards the issue of Abramishvili’s accountability should be addressed.

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