Witnesses Questioned in Gunava’s Case

Salome Achba

Witnesses of the prosecutor’s office were questioned at the trial on Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti regional governor Tengiz Gunava. They were questioned about the incident where person was slightly injured. According to investigation unit, Tengiz Gunava and his driver had an argument when Gunava wounded his driver Izoria in the leg with his service gun.

Chief witness and victim of the case Kakha Izoria requested to close the trial when he intended to make the statement because it referred to his personal life. The defense side also requested to close the trial but the judge did not satisfy the solicitation.

According to case materials, Kakha Izoria sent intimate sms to Gunava’s female relative to her cell phone number. Izoria claims he mixed up phone numbers and wanted to send the sms to other person:

“I had been working with Tengiz Gunava for 6 years. We always had very close relation. On March 31, our colleague Bakur Gulua met me and showed the printed out sms which I had sent to Gunava’s relative woman by mistake. It was intimate text and I got ashamed of my mistake. So, I decided to quit my job and wrote resignation letter on the same day. Next day I decided to go to Tbilisi. My family members saw me to the auto-station in Zugdidi; I took a ticket and was waiting for the bus. My former colleague called me and said Tengiz Gunava wanted to see me and we met at the bus-station. Gunava was accompanied by three persons though they did not interfere in our conversation. Gunava asked me why I had sent the sms to his relative but I explained to him that I had mixed up numbers. We conversed calmly and finally I decided to quit before the situation got tense and went away; having walked 15-20 meters away, I heard a gunshot and then felt pain in the leg. I did not see who shot me because my back was turned and I wasn't facing the assailant. Then I called my cousin for help; he took me home; I was very bad and getting fainted. Then an officer of Special Operative Department arrived at my cousin’s house and said my conditions might get worse and it was necessary to take me to Gori military hospital. On the same day I was taken to Gori hospital,” witness Kakhaber Izoria said.

The prosecutor said Kakha Izoria’s statement contradicted the testimony he had made during investigation process and created some obscurity about the case. The prosecutor said initially Izoria claimed that he had decided to leave the bus-station because he had quarreled with Gunava and preferred to leave to avoid escalation of the situation. The prosecutor asked Izoria to make this moment clearer and he replied that he really had an argument with Gunava.

Doctor from Gori hospital, who provided Kakha Izoria with medical assistance, was also questioned at the trial.

“On April 2, before the patient was delivered to the hospital, the former director of the hospital Aleksandre Mukhadze called and asked me to take care of a patient, who would be soon delivered to the hospital and that he was wounded in the leg. Mukhadze asked me to first treat him and avoid filling in any documents in the hospital. The patient was wounded in the right leg, supposedly by firearm. I treated his wound and the patient stayed in the hospital during one day and night. Then I decided that his health conditions were not grave and could take medical treatment in the outpatients. I again called former director of the hospital Mukhadze and asked whether I had to fill in any documents. Mukhadze again asked me to refrain from making any documents so I dismissed the patient from hospital without registration. I gave him my phone number to call me in case of any problem. Afterwards, the patient called me twice and asked me to visit him at home. I went and bandaged his wound two times,” said surgeon Geronti Topchishvili in his statement.

Gunava’s lawyer asked Topchishvili why he remembered Izoria’s case so well and he said it was the first time when he treated patient without registering him in hospital.

Tengiz Gunava’s supporters also attended the trial. Judge expelled some of them from the courtroom for causing disorder in the process during the interrogation of witnesses. Part of attendees was referring ironically to witnesses when they were leaving the courtroom.