Nugzar Abulashvili: “Who not with me goes to jail!” (Part I)

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

Nugzar Abulashvili, a majoritarian candidate for MP from the United National Movement, is tied up with many criminal cases, and he is considered of being guilty of abusing his authority.  Former officials from the government and prosecutor bodies, representatives of the NGOs, journalists and ordinary people are demanding that criminal prosecution be started against him several times already, and in spite of all effort and recriminations, they have not been successful in their pleas.

Who exactly is Abulashvili and what kind of background does he have? What connection does he have with the detention of high-ranking officials, illegal land deals and scrap metal in Sighnaghi? Who the MP who went about terrorizing officials and small entrepreneurs? Why did Abulashvili decide to disperse journalists and which minister he had collaborated with in dispersing the protest demonstration? What is Vazha Baghashvili blaming him for, and how a police officer, accused for the murder of nineteen-year-old boy became an employee at the General Inspection Division within the Ministry of Internal Affairs?

We carried out a journalistic investigation to get some of the hard answers to these pressing questions.

Nugzar Abulashvili was born on September 13 1973 in the village of Jugaani in Sighnaghi district. 1991-1996, he worked as a driver at the Sighnaghi Melioration and Water Irrigation Department; 1996-1999 he was employed as an inspector at the Sighnaghi Association of Hunters and Fishermen. In 2002-2003, he worked at the Sighnaghi Office of the National Bar Association. In 2004, he continued his activities as the chairperson of the Jugaani Community Board. However, after the 2003 Rose Revolution he became an MP from the United National Movement.

“Who does not support me must be imprisoned”

After entering the parliament, Nugzar Abulashvili attacked officials of the local government.

Gogi Chirinashvili, former chairperson of the Board of the village of Anaga, was one of those people who first resisted the ambitions of the MP and his “team”. Abulashvili, being anxious about his resistance, threatened Chirinashvili to evict from the district in the name of the Georgian President.

“MP Nugzar Abulashvili first ordered me to leave the position in March of 2004. I met him in his working room; then he was the head of the district organization of the United National Movement. He stated unless I obeyed his demands, he would have me and my family evicted from the district. The reason for his decision was my activities against him that meant I was acting against the state. He claimed I accepted representatives of the opposition political parties on the board.”

“After this conversation Abulashvili gathered personal information about my family members. In addition to personal data, he accessed information from the Tax Service Department and found out the shares of which business company that we owned, whether we paid taxes, etc. Having not found any mistakes he declared in his quarter together with other village governors, their deputies and other officials that unless I resigned from the position he would do everything to get rid of me. He warned he would not avoid planting drugs and even weapon on me. Anyway I did not accept his warning,” said Gogi Chirinashvili.

After the incident, Nugzar Abulashvili tried to gain over the members of the Anaga Board and tried to discredit Chirinashvili in such a manner.

On May 30 2006 at 12:00 PM, members of the village board held a session in the Sandro Akhmeteli Museum in the village of Anaga and did not invite Gogi Chirinashvili to the session. Police officers and representatives of the National Movement attended the event. The report of the session reads that the board members decided to hold snap session Chirinashvili appealed against the meeting report and the decision at the Sighnaghi District Court according to the law; he demanded to annul the decision but the court did not discuss his appeal. Meanwhile, board members held another snap session, declared their mistrust to the chairperson, and on their own terminated him from the position. Chirinashvili appealed against this decision too but the court also did not discuss the appeal.

 The board members did not keep in secret in their private talks with Chirinashvili that Nugzar Abulashvili had suppressed them and forced them to act in such a way.

-Mr. Gogi, Did MP Abulashvili suppress you with any other methods in addition to those you have already mentioned?

-Nugzar Abulashvili completely isolated the village. More precisely, since January of 2006 the village of Anaga had no import and export. According to the early decision of the district board, the head of the Financial Department in Sighnaghi District allocated 9, 200 GEL instead of estimated 15 thousand GEL. Consequently, Vasiko Baliashvili, the head of the Financial Department was fired,” said Chirinashvili.

Besides Gogi Chirinashvili, Nugzar Abulashvili demanded that the chairpersons of other village boards resign. Amiran Ghvedashvili, former chairperson of the Dzveli Anaga Village Board, stated that he submitted his resignation based on his personal letter. “Nugzar Abulashvili demanded me several times to leave the position because he wanted to appoint another person from his party in my place. Since I knew Chirinashvili’s situation, I obeyed his demands and resigned,” said Ghvedashvili.

According to Abulashvili’s demand, the chairpersons of other villages:  Erisimedi, Vakiri and Jugaani, also resigned. However, Sixty-nine-year-old Matvei Remizov, the chairperson of the village of Ulianovka, did not cave in to his demands. “Nugzar Abulashvili invited me at the district administration and he personally demanded me to resign like all the others; I had to write letter of resignation myself. I asked the reason but he shouted at me, “I want so and that’s enough. If you do not leave, that means you resist the leading party and you will not be forgiven.” My twenty-nine-year-old son had died short time before that conversation and I could not concentrate,” said Matvei Remizov. He added that Abulashvili gave him several days to give his final decision.

Two weeks later, Zurab Zhvania, Baadur Baidoshvili and other members of the village board asked Matvei Remisov to issue a certificate how the production the villagers had sold to a certain person. Remisov did not refuse them. “We issued similar certificates before that too and I satisfied the request my colleagues. They also added that the purchaser intended to allocate some money in the village budget for the rehabilitation of board building. I was very pleased with the news because the building was pulling down. Some time later, that purchaser, Nugzar Mosashvili, met me personally to get a certificate. The secretary prepared the document, registered it and gave me to sing. As soon as I signed,  Mosashvili held out the money but I refused to take it, and he then put the money on the table. At that moment, dozens of police officers rushed into the room and asked where I was hiding the bribe? I showed them the money and claimed I had not taken anything. They put me into irons and arrested,” said Remizov.

Nugzar Abulashvili gave the direct order to arrest Remizov, as Nodar Kutibashvili, a resident of Sighnaghi district, said: “I was in the Alcohol Factory when Abulashvili arrived together with several members of the leading political party. Irakli Suliashvili, the chairperson of the Sighnaghi Municipality. Abulashvili was asking somebody over the phone whether the money was provided, and if the person was now in detention. Later I learned that Matvei had been arrested,” said Nodar Kutibashvili.

The information about the operative activities against the detainee accused for the crime envisaged in the Criminal Procedural Code is not public. Thus, lawyers stated that Nugzar Abulashvili should not have known about the planned detention of Remizov before being actually arrested.

Despite the lawyer’s protest, Kakheti Regional Prosecutor accused the sixty-nine-year-old man of abusing his power. Telavi District Court imposed two-months-imprisonment on Remizov as a preliminary punishment.

Matvei Remizov spent six months in prison. In prison, gangrene on his one of his fingers. The medical assistance was not enough, and the infection worsened. Finally, the left hand had to be amputated. Sighnaghi Prosecutor’s Office signed s plea-bargain agreement with the now disabled person. Remizov sold everything from his house, relatives also assisted him with money and finally he managed to pay 10,000 GEL to the budget. The court imposed a suspended sentence of five years on him.

Nugzar Abulashvili did the same with the governor of the village of Sakobo. Initially he demanded him to resign as well. “Abulashvili was terrorizing us in the name of the Georgian President. He terrorizes everybody who he doubts that is not faithful to the government. He could not gain the board members of our village and thus he used police officers against me. They launched criminal prosecution against me under the charge of abusing my power and had me arrested. He never gives up chasing after person if he starts once,” said Nodar Kutibashvili.

Abulashvili dispersed journalists according to the agreement with the Internal Ministry.

On June 15 2006, Kakheti based NGOs intended to organized theatrical protest demonstration to protest the suppression on local self-government imposed by Nugzar Abulashvili. The members of the Sighnaghi Office of the National Movement attacked the journalists, who were on their way to record the protest demonstration. Having insulted and assaulted them, they dispersed the correspondents, broke their microphones, tape recorders, and seized video-records and their photo-cameras. Journalists Roman Kevkhishvili, Zviad Ruadze and Gela Jaliashvili, all who are journalists, suffered as victims.

The incident lasted for nearly forty minutes. The police officers were watching the on-going situation in the distance without any reaction. The journalists asked them to help several times; called Aleksandre Onanashvili, the head of the Sighnaghi Police Department, for help though in vain.

Police officers, Besik Pkhovelishvili, Gia Sifrashvili and Iago Kochlamazashvili (the latter took part in the dispersal) made Ioseb Nanobashvili, interim governor of the village of Vakiri, Jemal Demetrashvili, a resident of the same village, to sit in the car and took them to the local office of the National Movement.

Tinatin Pkhovelishvili, the director of the NGO “Lawyers Development Centre”, one of the organizers of the demonstration, stated those people had started to “prevent the demonstration and threaten demonstrators two days before. They threatened the people in the name Abulashvili and warned everybody against the thought of joining the demonstration; he even threatened them with detention. He claimed the president allowed him to do everything. The MP planned the dispersal of the demonstration. He personally organized the assault of journalists from the office of the leading political party. Then the policemen delivered the protesters to their houses by police cars.”

“Nugzar Bulashvili and local office of the National Movement deliberately attacked journalists in order to avoid the shame; the demonstrators intended to bring a coffin in front of his office to protest his activities,” said Zhana Didebashvili, regional correspondent of the TV Company Imedi.

Nino Burjanadze, chairperson of the Georgian Parliament, made a special statement regarding the fact. She assessed the incident as vandalism and demanded to punish the criminals. “If the members of the United National Movement or policemen really participated in the accident they must be punished,” stated Burjanadze.

The damaged journalists have been requesting the court to discuss the case but the proceeding has not been earmarked yet. Vasiko Munjishvili, the attacker who was released under bail, told the damaged journalists: “Abulashvili did not want to hold a theatrical demonstration in front of the office. He gathered activists of the party and ordered to prevent the demonstrators to approach the center of Sighnaghi. He personally provided us with the transport and we traveled to the village of Anaga where the demonstration was to be held. Abulashvili guaranteed complete freedom and impunity he said Vano Merabishvili, the Internal Minister, also knew about the incident. The Minister was his friend and nobody would be arrested,” said Munjishvili.

(part II)