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Nora Kvitsiani’s Trail Has Been Postponed Again

March 20, 2007

kvicianib.gifCourt hearing on Nora Kvitsiani has been postponed for the second time. She was accused for having established illegal armed formation, for illegal storage of weapon and for appropriating the state property-75 000GEL. Her case is discussed by Davit Kekenadze, judge for the Gali-Gulrifshi District Court.

The reason for postponing the court hearing was bad climate of the Kodori Gorge-the accuser party could not bring witnesses from the gorge because of bad weather. However, one of them somehow managed to appear at the court despite. Nazi Tsulukidze, a resident of the gorge, retracted her initial testimony made during the preliminary investigation and said that she had not said the things the investigator wrote in the testimony.

According to the interrogation report, Tsulukidze’s testimony was made against Nora Kvitsiani. The witness claimed in her initial testimony that Emzar and Nora Kvitsianis actively called upon the gorge population to resist the government. The report also stated that Tsulukidze’s family, like many other families in the area, had not received any kind of humanitarian aid while Nora Kvitsiani was the Gorge Governor. At the trial Tsulukidze claimed the opposite. She said that she had never heard any villager ever complained about humanitarian aid. Tsulukidze was asked why she had signed initial testimony during the preliminary investigation. The witness said that “I thought they were recording my words; however they were writing the things I never said. I trusted the investigator and signed the report. I could not read the text because I did not have my spectacles with me.”

According to the lawyer of the accused, Paata Buchukuri, the testimony made at the trial by Tsulukidze cannot be considered is a retracted testimony. “Witness has not retracted initial testimony.  She made an unbiased testimony to the court. She said that the report does not match the testimony she had made and did not know what was written there,” said Buchukuri.

Nina Gugusiani, a resident of the village of Chkhalta in the Kodori Gorge arrived at the court to make a testimony as a witness. Her statement contradicts with the information according to what Nora Kvitsiani had appropriated the humanitarian goods. “Similar incident has never occurred in our village. We used to receive the product every month. While Nora was a governor of the gorge, neither a gram of product had disappeared,” said Gugusiani. The witness was not interrogated at the trial today. She was making testimonies in Nora Kvitsiaini’s favor to the journalists in the yard of the court building.

Nazi Tsulukidze is the second witness who has retracted initial testimony during the investigation. Both of them claim that they have signed the interrogation report without having looked through the text. The lawyer wants to draw everybody’s attention to these facts. “Both witnesses had signed the interrogation reports unconsciously. Generally, the facts prove how minimal information those people have about interrogation procedure and they do not know how to act in similar situation,” said Buchukuri. He added that the court did not show any interest to the new testimonies of above-mentioned witnesses. The judge did not satisfy the lawyer’s mediation on interrogating the investigator. The trial of Nora Kvitsiani will be renewed on March 22.

Nana Sajaia, Zugdidi

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