Backlog of Unsolved Cases Builds up Tskaltubo

Lamara Geguchadze, a resident in Kutaisi applied to the Human Rights Center’s Kutaisi office after discovering her house had burnt down in her village of Banoja in the Tskaltubo district. The victim said that she initially applied to the Internal Ministry’s Tsakltubo district Department with oral and written appeal. However, everyone seemed to ignore her.

“My estate in the village of Naboja that I had been taking care for so many years now is ruined. Other villagers also live in difficult conditions; they lose cows, pigs, and other animals. We have appealed to the Internal Ministry’s Tskaltubo Department in vain. They have not found any of the alleged accused yet. On New Year Eve, criminals burned down my neighbor’s house and mine. We were damaged both morally and materially. We informed the police but they did not react,” Geguchadze wrote in her letter to the Human Rights Center.

Last week, relatives of Valeri Djimsheleishvili held protested in front of the building of the Imereti Regional Administrative Board. They demanded that an investigation be launched into the death of a boy, who disappeared in December of 2006 and who later was found dead in the forest of Tskhunukuri. His body was half eaten by animals. The demonstrators demanded to launch the investigation from Akaki Bobokhidze, the Regional Governor. The demonstrators were met neither by representatives of the local authority nor officers from district police department.

Family members of the victim claim that the case would remain unsolved unless the family members use more severe forms of protest.

“I think that the Tskhlatubo police are collecting uninvestigated cases. There is no other explanation of the situation. Crimes are committed one after another,” said Geguchadze.

Tskaltubo district occupies the first place in the list of district police stations with uninvestigated cases throughout the Imereti Region. Although the number of the crimes is increasing, the police become less and less responsive.

For the last few days, press secretary of the Internal Ministry’s Imereti Regional Department promised to contact us with the first policeman in the region in vain. “If you need only statistics, I will try to arrange your meeting with the chief policeman. He will give you detailed information, but you should promise me that you will not interview him,” said Nana Kukhalashvili. However, later Levan Kakhiani, the chief of the Imreti Police Department refused to interview as well as provide us with statistical data.

In addition to the above-mentioned unsolved cases; there are an increasing number of the crimes in the Tskaltubo district. The robbery of the Sinatashvili’s family in the village of Rioni is still uninvestigated. During the robbery one of the family members was killed. An even worse tragedy occurred in the village of Kvilishori where armed criminals murdered a father and son during an attempted robbery.

Representatives of the Public Defender’s Office also speak about the indifference of the law enforcers. “We have received appeals where the victim side is concerned about the frequent crimes in the district and requested our assistance. They complained about the inactivity of the police and uninvestigated crimes,” said Teona Kuchava, Public Defender’s representative to the Imreti region.

Geguchadze said she was sure that her house was premeditatedly burned down. Her neighbor, Khuta Djimsheleishvili’s house was set a blaze for the same reason, she said. “These two houses were right next to each other. The robbers and muggers who run rampant in the area, wanted to cover up the scene of their crime. I am sure the robbers cooperate with police because two months have passed and police have not investigated anything yet,’ said Geguchadze.

It is evident that the police do not want to hinder the investigation with much outside interference (?!)

Shorena Kakabadzem Kutaisi