Murderer of Nineteen-Year-Old Boy Works At the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Vazha Baghashvili, a resident of the village of Bodbe in the Sighnagi District blamed Nodar Anulashvili, an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for having murdered his nineteen-year-old son, Zviad Baghashvili. The father claimed that the murderer was promoted instead of being punished. He works at the General Inspections of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On December 11, 1999 Zviad Baghashvili was murdered in the small town of Tsnori in the Sighnaghi District when he was visiting Nana Tandilashvili together with his friend Davit Naskidashvili. Nana’s family met them unwillingly. The grandmother sent one of her grandchildren to the nearest police station and called inspector Nodar Abulashvili. The neighbors said that Abulashvili often visited the Tandilashvili’s. He arrived at their house very quickly. Witnesses stated that when police cars arrived, Baghashvili’s car was already leaving Tandialshvili’s house. “Nodar Abulashvili demanded Zviad to get out of the car, but the latter resisted him and the policeman shot him. The boy died at the scene,” said one of the witnesses.

The Sighnagi District Police launched an investigation for abuse of power. Police inspector Abulashvili was interrogated the same day. He said that when he approached Bagashvili’s car, the latter tried to escape. “I tried to remove a key from the car, but Bagashvili rolled up the window and started the car. Therefore, I pulled out my gun and initially fired a shot in the air, then at the tires and finally I put the gun on the window glass. I shot accidentally,” said Nodar Abulashvili in his initial testimony.

Some time later, the case was assigned to the Kakheti Regional Prosecutor’s Office which investigated the case as a premeditated murder. Since expert investigations concluded that all four window glasses on Baghashvili’s car were out of order, and the dead boy could not roll them up, the accused changed his testimony. “I wanted to stop Baghashvili and held the door in order not to let him go. The car dragged me for a short distance and I fired the gun in the heat of the moment,” he stated. The investigation contradicted the second testimony too. Specialists concluded that it was impossible to fire the gun accidentally in a similar situation.

The Prosecutor’s Office charged Nodar Abulashvili for having murdered a nineteen-year-old man only five months later. On April 7, 2000 Abulashvili was arrested. Goderdzi Goderdzishvili, the judge for the Telavi District Court, discussed the motions of the Prosecutor’s Office and sentenced Abulashvili to pretrial detention. However, as it later became evident, the order of imprisonment was enacted through a blatant violation of procedural norms. Consequently, the Tbilisi Court canceled it. Judge Gabisonia released Nodar Abulashvili from all charges.

Lawyers claimed that the Prosecutor’s Office had the right and the opportunity to arrest and charge Abulashvili for the second time, but they neglected to do so. Janiashvili, the investigator of the murder, said in his conversation with the Human Rights Center, that he could not envisage any crime under Article 104 of the Georgian Criminal Code (old variant of the code - premeditated murder in grave circumstances). The Prosecutor’s Office decided to put Abulashvili under the supervision of the police.

The prosecutor tried to bring an end to the investigation of Baghashvili’s murder, but it was protested by the father of the murdered boy. Vazha Baghashvili stated that the Regional and Supreme Court returned the case for further investigation five times and the judge put the Georgian Prosecutor General in charge of investigating the case, but in vain. The Prosecutor General sent case materials to the Kakheti Regional Prosecutor’s Office to investigate and the latter concluded to drop the case every time.

“All evidence and testimonies which proved that Nodar Abulashvili is guilty of murder were changed and destroyed by investigators. The Prosecutor’s Office ignored all court orders. Abulashvili was terrorizing us and demanded us to cease our appeals to the court. Our appeals were unsuccessful. I do not know how he managed, but Nodar Abulashvili now works at the Sighnaghi Police station. Recently, he was promoted to work at the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His brother, MP Nugzar Abulashvili, who is close to the Georgian president, protects him. MP Abulashvili is the head of the National Movement branch in the Sighnaghi district,” said Vazha Baghashvili.

Spokesmen of the Kakheti Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor General’s Office made comments on the situation. Neither Nodar, nor Nugzar Abulashvilis wanted to speak with journalists regarding the fact. “Go away,” was the reply of the MP.

The parents of the murdered boy demand punishment for the murder. 

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti