Relatives of Levan Kortava held rally in front of the Parliament

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi 

On February 18, relatives and lawyers of the deceased prisoner Levan Kortava, inmate in the Geguti # 14, gathered in front of the parliament. They requested meeting with the chairman of the Healthcare and Social Issues Parliamentary Committee Dimitry Khundadze with the request to restore justice. 

“Almost two years have passed since the accident and the truth is not estimated yet. There are two expertise conclusions in the case materials. According to one conclusion, the death was caused as a result of the injuries he had received during the physical assault in prison. And second, the alternative report reads that his death was caused by doctors' negligence and improper treatment. Should not they find out the real truth? Should not the perpetrators be punished?! We do not demand anything special. We just want the government, in this particular case the representatives of the legislative body, to show more compassion”, relatives of Levan Kortava said. 

They request the Parliamentary Committee of Health and Social Issues, in particular, Dimitry Khundadze to investigate the case and get familiar with the results of alternative conclusions. 

On 12 May 2013, Levan Kortava, 24, was transferred from Rustavi prison # 6 to Geguti prison N14; after the transfer prison officers ruthlessly beat him up. As a result of the grave injuries of the body on May 23 (closed trauma on the brain), the prisoner died in the Intervention Medical Center of the Western Georgia. In August 2013, the Western Georgian Prosecutor’s Office announced the death case of the 24-year-old Kortava was resolved. Officers of the 14th penitentiary establishment, as well as former prison inmates, were charged under several articles of the Criminal Code. 

Fabrication of evidence, professional negligence, premeditated grave damage of the body that caused death – the prison officers were accused of these violations. 

Although the case was declared resolved, Kortava’s family members still believe that the real offender is not arrested yet. Doctors, whose negligence caused the prisoner’s death, are also unpunished. 

Alternative expertise was conducted based on the request of the family. Expert Maia Nikolaishvili clarified: "Trauma on his skull as a result of physical assault could not cause Levan Kortava’s death." 

According to Nikoleishvili and Kortava’s family members, medical experts (who concluded that the death was caused by injuries) hushed mistakes of the doctors at the Intervention Medical Center of Western Georgia. Due to these circumstances, they call on the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Healthcare and Social Issues to get familiar with the materials, in particular, the results of the alternative expertise.