37-year-old man had ribs broken in Signagi municipality police

Reginfo.ge

37-years-old Vladimer Mtchedlishvili was brought to the Signagi district police unit absolutely healthy, without any injuries. But several minutes later, he was placed in the temporary detention setting with bruises on the left eye and hip. In the TDS he called ambulance twice during one night. The medical examination in the hospital revealed that he had 6th, 7th and 8th ribs broken. Vladimer Mtchedlishvili said police officer Giorgi Nozadze beat him in the Signagi police unit.

Vladimer Mtchedlishvili said, on May 15, he was drinking beer together with his friend nearby the wedding house in Signagi, when a police officer approached them and said it was forbidden to drink beer in the territory.

“We, several boys were gathered there. I told the police officer, we did not bother anybody. later, the second police officer also came and started video-recording us by phone. I asked why he was recording me and said because I was breaching the law. I did not know the law and continued drinking the beer. They ran to me, twisted my hands and dragged me 10 meters away. I just asked them to stop twisting my hands but did not resist. It happened about 40-50 meters away from the police office. 

As soon as I was brought to the police office, the police officer Giorgi Nozadze started beating me. Two officers were holding me, Nozadze was scolding and beating me. When they saw, I did not resist them, they let me go. I was just defending myself.

He was beating me with fists, hands and legs in the head and hips during 10-15 minutes. When I fell down, he kicked me several times. I could not stand the pain and asked to stop beating me because I was in terrible pain and doubted I had something broken. In response to that, he continued kicking more severely. 

Then he told other police officers to draft arrest protocol. I asked them to let me call hotline or family members but he refused, did not allow me to call,” Vladimer Mtchedlishvili told RegInfo.

Signagi district temporary detention setting is located in the building of the police unit. When brought in the setting, he was asked about the health problems.

“When the officer-on-duty saw me with injuries, he asked whether I needed a doctor. They called ambulance, doctor gave painkillers and then officers took me to the cell. The detention setting officer questioned me how I had received the injuries. I told him that the police officer had beaten me in the police office and then they informed the prosecutor’s office about it. At that night, I called for the ambulance two more times. Several hours later, in the morning, I was taken to the office of Giorgi Nozadze. He said he will free me and but would call to the scheduled hearing in the court. I went home and needed doctor’s help at home too,” Vladimer Mtchedlishvili said.

Judge Paata Nozadze at the Signagi district court discussed the administrative lawsuit against Mtchedlishvili on May 16.

“The police officer stated at the court that I not only drank the beer but acted aggressively and insulted the police officers. I told the judge there were several video-cameras in the place of incident and if I had resisted or insulted the police officers, they should have presented the corresponding videos to prove it. Besides that, witnesses of our incident, who are residents of Signagi, also confirmed that I neither resisted nor insulted the police officers. The judge smiled in response to my statement,” Vladimer Mtchedlishvili said.

Judge Paata Nozadze found Mtchedlishvili guilty under the Article 173 of the Administrative Code of Georgia that refers to disobedience to lawful order of a police officer or illegal activity against other person. The court imposed 300 GEL fine on Vladimer Mtchedlishvili.

Kakheti regional prosecutor’s office started criminal investigation into alleged abuse of power by police officers. 

On the third day after the incident, Vladimer Mtchedlishvili went to the Tsnori based Archimede Medical Clinic because of acute pains. The x-ray examination showed that he had his ribs broken and now he is taking treatment.

In 2015-2016 several facts of physical abuse of citizens by police officers were observed in Kakheti region. 

On February 5, 2016, at the trial in Gurjaani district court, 19-years-old Giorgi Molashvili said on February 3 he was beaten in the Kvareli municipality police office. “He pushed me against the table, sat on me and started beating me. After I was handcuffed, they put me on the ground. Police officer Gugulashvili stood on me so that I could not resist them during beating. Afterwards, they took me into the working room of the chief police officer and he also hit me in the face,” Giorgi Molashvili said.

On October 29, 2015, 19-years-old Ladi Elikashvili was placed in Gurjaani district hospital with closed trauma of skull and brain concussion. Elikashvili had wound on his lip too. He said he was beaten in the working room of the Gurjaani district chief police officer, where police officers broke his two teeth too. “After I got all blooded, they took me into the restroom, made me wash face so that my family members did not notice the injuries. The chief police officer Giorgi Kratsashvili demanded me to tell others that I had fallen off the stairs and injured myself,” Ladi Elikashvili said.

On May 21, 2015, 30-years-old Tchabuka Tchabukadze was placed in Gurjaani district hospital with brain concussion and grave injuries (broken neck). After the Information Center of Kakheti disseminated information about Tchabukadze, the investigator Davit Kochishvili visited him in the hospital and forced him to sign preliminarily written testimony as if he had fallen off the stairs being drunken and had received injuries then. Later, Tchabukadze clarified in his statement to the prosecutor’s office that unless he had signed the testimony, the police officers threatened him to plant the guns and arrest him. 

It is not full list of the physical assaults of citizens by police officers in Kakheti region. Prosecutor’s office started investigation into those facts too but it is still ongoing and not a single police officer was punished for the physical assault. 

Only 5 police officers were punished in 169 cases.

Network of Information Centers requested public information from the Chief Prosecutor’s Office about ongoing criminal prosecutions against police officers with regard to the physical assaults of citizens, about the police officers who were punished for the crimes and what were charges brought against them.

The chief prosecutor’s office sent the requested information after the legal terms for issuing the information had expired and reported that in 2016, 169 criminal cases were opened against police officers, all of them were classified under the Article 333 Part of the Criminal Code of Georgia (the paragraph and other details were not indicated in the response letter) that is about the abuse of professional power. 

In accordance to the same information, only 5 police officers were convicted for the imposed charges, that is 2.9% of the total amount of similar cases. At the same time, all of them were convicted under the Article 333 of the CCG without indicating paragraph and other details.

As for the applied restrictive measures against the accused police officers, the prosecutor’s office did not provide the Network with this information at all. 

“The prosecutor’s offices are loyal with the violator police officers. It is important to note that the prosecutor’s office does not publish information about the imposed restrictive measures on the accused police officers that may indirectly indicate that they mostly apply non-imprisonment terms against them,” the analytic of the Network, lawyer Gela Shashiashvili said. 

He added that all facts of ill-treatment by police officers are qualified as the abuse of professional power. 

“Supposedly, the prosecutor’s offices purposefully do not charge the violator police officers under grave articles of the criminal code like degrading or inhuman treatment (Article 144.3) and others,” Gela Shashiashvili said. 

The information provided by the chief prosecutor’s office does not contain clear qualifications of the imposed charges and it is impossible to identify how many facts were qualified as grave– intimidation under the threat of weapon or discrimination of the victim.