The family of late Tornike Merebashvili does not trust the investigation

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

8 months after July 6, 2018, when Tornike Merebashvili died in obscure situation, police arrested a person, born in 1969, for the violation of the transport safety rules – Ministry of Internal Affairs reported about it on February 11, 2019. 

According to the MIA, the investigation estimated that on July 6, 2018 the detainee was traveling in Kheltubani village, Gori municipality, by his car. He violated the traffic safety rules and crashed Tornike Merebashvili, born in 1999; the latter passed away before being delivered to hospital. About 140 persons were questioned in the frame of investigation activities; the videos from the cameras installed in the vicinities of the scene of incident were examined; complex expertise was conducted. 

According to MIA, Z.K was arrested after the law enforcement bodies received the conclusion of the forensic expertise and based on various investigative activities carried out with regard to accident. The investigation is ongoing into the violation of the traffic safety or exploitation rules that resulted in death– Article 276 Part 5 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. 

The father of the late Tornike Merebashvili does not trust the version of the investigation; Merab Merebashvili stated his son received injuries in the conflict, which resulted in death. Merab Merebashvili complains about those investigators, who destroyed the evidence due to their professional negligence. The father appealed the General Inspection of MIA against the police officers.

“My son had injuries; the investigators did not pay adequate attention to the evidence on the scene of accident and now the investigation is on wrong track. The detained driver, who allegedly drove over my son, does not plead guilty. Before the detention, he met me and I told him not to admit the crime as I know what really happened there. There was quarrel which turned into serious conflict and my son was badly injured; he had bruises on the body,” Merab Merebashvili said. 

Lawyer of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association Revaz Revazishvili also speaks about the questions with regard to the investigation. He said the expertise conclusion is based on assumptions. 

“According to the expertise conclusion, Tornike Merebashvili’s death may be resulted from the car crash but the conclusion does not categorically claim about it and it is only assumption,” Revaz Revazishvili said, and added that criminal case was separated from the main case file, which was launched against several witnesses, who allegedly made wrong testimonies to the investigation. 

The investigation continues into Tornike Merebashvili’s case. The father requests exhumation of the son to estimate the truth about the death.