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Car-Crash Happened Because of the Car, Loaded with Smuggled Cigarettes

January 18, 2007

Kakha Khabelashvili, a resident of the village in the Gori district, urged the Georgian President, the Prosecutor General and the Public Defender for help. Khabelashvili asked the high-ranking officials to control the investigation on the car-crash which happened on the central high-way, last year.

Khabelashvili: On August 9, 2006 a terrible tragedy happened with my family. Near the village of Shavshvebi in the Gori District, a BMW-525 crashed the car of my wife’s brother, Davit Saatashvili. The car-crash ended with the death of my wife, Gulo Khabelasvili; my nine-year-old son, Nika Khabelashvili; my brother-in-law, Davit Saatashvili and the sister of my wife, Manana Tskrialashvili. My second son, five-year-old Giga Khabelashvili, was badly injured during the accident. My brother-in-law’s car, mark 06, was moving from the village towards the central high-way. The investigators of the Patrol Police Shida Kartli Main Department within the Georgian Interior Ministry are carrying out the investigation on the case. Nobody has been detained for the crime yet and I think they are not going to.”

Khatuna Takadze, the investigator for the accident, appointed the Auto-technical examination on the car on August 15 2006. The expert Zakaria Tetradze was to conduct the examination, he drew up a conclusion after the examination and sent it to the investigation. Khabelashvili called the conclusion absurd. “The conclusion is flies. The expert Tetradze wrote down in the conclusion that my brother-in-law was driving his car at 26 km.p.h. It is not right because he stopped the car when reached the central high-way and waited for five minutes to cross the street. After that, he drove 5-6 meters along the high-way, having seen the road was free.  BMW was driving on the other half of its way and was moving towards my brother-in-law’s car.  Besides that witnesses said in their testimonies that the speedometer of the BMW was stopped at the speed of 180-200 km.p.h. People came to us and said that the car boot of the BMW was full of cigarettes.”

The victim doubts one more fact in the expert’s conclusion. After the car-crash, his relative’s car was thrown 34 meters away from the accident. The expert did not take in his consideration the total weight of the people sitting in that car. Khabelashvili said that he together with his lawyer demanded to seal up the BMW immediately. They insisted that the BMW was driven by Merab Gogiashvili and not Davit Bakradze. The investigator agreed the part of the testimonies made by Bakradze and Gogiashvili. Moreover, the investigator represented herself as a specialist.

Khabelashvili: “Without any examination, the investigator does not take Ioseb Gogatishvili, the witnesses’ testimony into consideration. Thus, she proves her biased attitude towards the criminals. It is obscure why the people, who were sitting in the BMW, were not checked on drunkenness.”

Supervisor for the investigator, prosecutor Zurab Egadze, said that the investigation is being conducted objectively. As for the victim’s doubt, that law enforcers do not punish Gogiashvili, it is proved that the suspect is a relative of the local high ranking officials. The Prosecutor Egadze said that everybody was questioned and materials in the case cannot blame any of those people, who were sitting in the BMW.

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

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