Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi
Noise in the courtroom, two-month pretrial detention and announcement of the verdict – it was end of October 6 trial against police officer Lasha Jikhvashvili at Kutaisi City Court.
On October 3 police officer shot 21-year-old Mirza Buchuadze during pursuit in Kutaisi; police officer was accused of exceeding power and premeditated murder; defense side requested release from pretrial imprisonment in exchange of 10 000 lari bail for the accused but the judge declined it.
Prosecutor Davit Leperti clarified that police officer shot in the direction of the dead person without preliminary warning and control shooting that aggravates the accusation.
“There was one gunshot during the pursuit. Defense side finds it absolutely admissible that there was only one gunshot, which was made as a warning before detention and unfortunately resulted into the accident,” lawyer Giorgi Datuashvili said.
Relatives of the deceased young man demand strict punishment for the police officer, who felt bad during the trial and was taken out of the courtroom.
Next trial is scheduled for November 24 at Kutaisi City Court.