Accusations against Khashuri municipality property management service unit

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

Zaza Mekhrishvili, a resident of Khashuri municipality, blames the head and two employees of the Economical Service Unit at the Khashuri municipal administration in his verbal and physical assault. Mekhrishvili claims the controversy started after he published a critical post about the property management service unit in the social network.

“The Khashuri local government, namely the property management service, perceives the property of Khashuri municipality is their own garden. They manage the state properties according to their individual decisions. A lot of people apply to them for the state-owned lands to start business on them but the representatives of the service do not sell the land to everybody. As a result lot of investment opportunities are wasted in Khashuri,” Zaza Mekhrishvili wrote in social network.

He said the property management service unit assigns the state-owned lands only to their relatives and clergies, and get profit from their businesses. 

“I definitely know that the representatives of both regional and municipal property management service units are in a deal. These people were on high positions during the previous government too but did not interfere in political activities. They are close allies and sell land to only their relatives, friends and so-called businessmen clergies, from where they also get profits,” Mekhrishvili wrote in his post.

Mekhrishvili said the head of the Khashuri municipality property management service unit Sergo Laliashvili asked clarifications from him about the post in the social network and verbally and physically assaulted him several times.

“On April 21, I was in the office of the municipal administration, where I met Laliashvili and he invited me into his working room saying he had an affair with me. I accompanied him into the room and he started shouting at me; he even kicked me. Afterwards, his colleagues entered the room and twisted my hands. Next day I wrote a complaint to the municipal administration and requested to investigate the incident and punish the people who had insulted me,” Zaza Mekhrishvili said.

According to him, besides Laliashvili, other employees of the same service unit also physically and verbally abused him.

Head of the property management service unit at Khashuri municipal administration Sergo Laliashvili denies Mekhrishvili’s accusations about physical assault. However, he confirmed that he had an argument with him with regard to his public post in the social network; according to his allegation, the verbal controversy had not turned into physical quarrel.

Sergo Laliashvili, the head of the property management service unit at Khashuri municipal administration: “The main occupation of Mekhrishvili is to insult public servants and state institutions. He can dare anything and for that reason the door of my working room was open during our conversation. There was no physical controversy between us. When somebody insults you, you also respond to him but I did not forget that I am a public servant and have obligation to patience.” 

Mekhrishvili petitioned to the Khashuri municipal council with the request to dismiss the public servants. As he states, the next day, Laliashvili took a vacation.