One Witness (Spy-provocateur) in 11 Cases – It Happens After Parliamentary Elections, 2012

Gela Mtivlishvili, www.ick.ge  

After the parliamentary elections of 2012, Investigative Unit of the Ministry of Finances arrested several public servants for bribery; studio Monitor studied 11 cases in Kakheti region where one person - Ruslan Mamedov - is witness.

Ruslan Mamedov is mentioned in the cases launched against attorney of Bakurtsikhe village territorial entity Temur Zavrashvili, against the attorney of Zemo Kedi territorial entity Bezhan Sukhiashvili and his neighbor Emzar Gogbaidze, and in the case against the head of supervision service at Akhmeta district administration Merab Zviadauri.

Employees of the investigative unit of the Ministry of Finances arrested attorney of Bakurtsikhe village on February 10, 2013. According to the investigation unit, the attorney had prepared fraud document and accepted bribery of 300 lari for it.

“Officers of Kakheti investigative unit of the Ministry of Finance arrested Teimuraz Zavrashvili, attorney of Bakurtsikhe village territorial entity in Gurjaani district for preparation of fraud documents and bribery. Investigation estimated that Temur Zavrashvili had prepared fraud documents and accepted 300 lari as a bribe for it from Ruslan Mamedov. The investigation was launched under Article 338 Part I of the Criminal Code of Georgia that envisages imprisonment from 6 up to 9 years,” the February 11 statement of the investigative unit reads.

Temur Zavrashvili is member of the Coalition Georgian Dream and he was appointed to the position of the village attorney a week before detention. Court imposed a bail of 20 000 GEL on the detainee as a preventive measure. In June of 2013 Telavi district court found Zavrashvili guilty and sentenced to five-year imprisonment and fined with 2 000 lari. Zavrashvili did not appeal the verdict and it went into effect.

 

On April 6, 2013 employees of the investigative unit of the Ministry of Finance arrested interim head of supervision service at the Akhmeta district administration Merab Zviadauri. The latter is cousin of MP Zurab Zviadauri from the GD.

According to the investigative unit, on April 5, 2013 Merab Zviadauri accepted bribe of 500 USD from Ruslan Mamedov to lobby him in the construction. Telavi district court sent Zviadauri to imprisonment though he did not plead guilty and enjoyed his right to silence. On May 29, lawyer Jumber Mailashvili told ICK that Kakheti regional prosecutor’s office is about to sign plea-agreement with Merab Zviadauri. The trial scheduled at Telavi district court was postponed for that reason.

“Parties are negotiating about plea-agreement, its conditions and we have almost reached agreement; so we asked the judge to postpone the hearing for several days and he agreed,” the lawyer said. If the accusation is proved, Merab Zviadauri faces imprisonment from 6 to 9 years. Verdict was not passed on his case yet.

Bezhan Sukhiashvili, attorney of Zemo Kedi village in Dedoplistskaro district and his neighbor Emzar Gogbaidze were arrested in January of 2013. Sukhiashvili was charged for fabrication, Gogbaidze was charged for assisting him in the criminal activities. Investigative unit has not spread information about it. 

Reportedly, Ruslan Mamedov contacted Emzar Gogbaidze, resident of Zemo Kedi village, and told that he had purchased sheep in the village; the pasture could not accompany him to the village administration office to write notification and asked Emzar Gogbaidze to help him and declare at the office that Mamedov had purchased sheep from him. In exchange Mamedov promised him to help; Gogbaidze’s was from socially vulnerable family. The latter agreed Mamedov and told the village attorney that he had purchased sheep from him. Village attorney Bezhan Sukhiashvili issued the notification, Mamedov gave him money and video-recorded this fact in secret.

The Court found both Sukhiashvili and Gogbaidze guilty. Prosecutor Khvicha Begiashvili at Kakheti Regional Prosecutor’s office was involved in this case. Court imposed fine and conditional sentence on Sukhiashvili and Gogbaidze.

In her interview with Studio Monitor human rights defender Lia Mukhashavria said: “As we observe, this person (Ruslan Mamedov) is not ordinary victim or a witness; but he is a spy provocateur.”

Reporter of the Studio Monitor Giorgi Mgeladze, who conducted a journalistic investigation into the case, asked Prosecutor Khvicha Begiashvili why prosecutors did not detect anything suspicious in the testimony of the professional witness. “I have one question – Mamedov is mentioned in eleven cases as a witness. Do you have information about it as a prosecutor? He was witness against four people. Did not you doubt about his honesty?” prosecutor did not answer his question.

Giorgi Mgeladze, reporter of the Studio Monitor: “On June 13, 2013, when law enforcement officers arrested seven village attorneys, one lawyer told us that suspicious witness was detected in the cases. We started investigation of this fact in different regions of Georgia. We obtained case materials, people gave interviews, and we obtained verdicts and other documents from the cases. Finally, we collected the accusations against eleven persons where chief witness and briber is one person Ruslan Mamedov. It happened in the cases launched in 2013. Processing in some cases has already finished. People say Mamedov was witness in different cases before parliamentary elections too. Three cases out of eleven cases were launched against four people – Bezhan Sukhiashvili, Emzar Gogbaidze, Temur Zavrashvili and Merab Zviadauri. Verdicts were already passed in the cases of Sukhiashvili, Gogbaidze and Zavrashvili. Trial on Zviadauri’s case is underway. They spoke about plea agreement but Zviadauris hired new lawyer and they refused to sign plea-agreement. 

Some of the accused people are free; we asked them to answer our questions but they refused including their lawyers.

-Did you explain to them that one witness is involved in 11 cases and despite that they did not agree to give interview? Neither lawyers?

-No, nobody agreed to be interviewed either in Telavi, or in Kareli, or in Gurjaani, Dedoplistskaro, Akhmeta, or in Kazbegi. Merab Zviadauri’s lawyer solicited to the court to attach several verdicts to their case materials as evidence, because Mamedov was mentioned in them.

-Did you meet Ruslan Mamedov?

-We could not find him in the address that is mentioned in case materials. We visited him in Ponichala settlement; his brother was at home and he did not tell us where he was. I called him on the phone; I have audio-recorded our conversation. He said he was a businessman but did not admit that he is a spy of investigative service.

-Promo of your documentary shows that you request Prosecutor Khvicha Begiashvili to comment on the issue. Did Chief Prosecutor’s Office or Investigative Unit of the Ministry of Finance comment on the issue?

-Prosecutor Khvicha Begiashvili refused to comment though Ruslan Mamedov is witness in several cases which were under Begiashvili’s supervision. Chief Prosecutor’s Office also refused to make comment. I have sent letters to them. I have been waiting for their reply for three days already. The main point is that all eleven cases were investigated by the investigative unit of the Ministry of Finance. We got in touch with this office too and asked representative of their press-center Natia Sukhiashvili to interview somebody from their office but she refused. I sent written questions to them too but Sukhiashvili replied that their position was declared in their public statement.

ICK contacted Prosecutor Khvicha Begiashvili at the Kakheti regional prosecutor’s office and asked few questions:

-Do you confirm that one person Ruslan Mamedov is main witness in the cases on the attorneys of Bakurtsikhe and Zemo Kedi villages and Merab Zviadauri?

-I confirm that this person Ruslan Mamedov was questioned as a witness in our cases. The information he has provided was proved in every case not only by his testimonies but by other evidence too - for example, by secret video-footage. We did not have ground to suspect him.

-One person is witness in the cases in Gurjaani, in Dedoplistskaro, Akhmeta and you were prosecutor in all three cases; how could not you detect anything suspicious in it?

-According to current legislation, if briber reports to law enforcement agency about the crime, he is discharged from the responsibility. If the bribed person also reports about the crime at the police before investigation is launched, he will also be discharged from responsibility.

-Is Ruslan Mamedov your spy or of the investigative service?

-I am a prosecutor. There are secret video-footages in case materials that prove the crime. I am determined to finalize the launched investigations. Witness sign notification documents that their testimonies are true; otherwise they will be held responsible. We cannot solve bribe crime if people do not apply to us.

-So, Mamedov meets public servants specially to offer bribe to be arrested afterwards?

-He did not participate in every case. He is a businessman, sells sheep, iron, or other goods. He often meets people and when he encounters similar incidents, he immediately reports to law enforcement bodies. I do not know what was going on in other regions. Crime was confirmed in all three cases in our region and court passed guilty verdicts in two cases. As for Merab Zviadauri we are negotiating on plea-agreement with him.