Why is Khobian Irakli Tsurtsumia Protesting and What Made Him Go to the Equality Institute?

New rules of detention at the Khobi police station.

The head of the Egalitarian Institute in Khobi, Irakli Tsurtsumia, was released after serving a 57-day sentence in Zugdidi jail №4 and paying a five thousand-lari bail. On August 7th, he was arrested on charges of disobeying the police. Tsurtsumia does not consider himself a criminal and talks about his sentence as Khobi police chief Koba Khubulava’s personal revenge.

The fact that the crime was provoked by police made Irakli Tsurtsumia to protest his treatment and decide to fight against police violence together with the Egalitarian Institute. A young man waiting for his inevitable arrest, even today Tsurtsumia makes statements against those who violated his rights and says he will try to protect the rights of other people while seeking justice himself.

After Irakli Tsurtsumia’s detention, the Khobian people began to give the following advice:
 “If you pass the building of the Khobi police station you will see the Chief of Police Koba Khubulava. Stay calm and don’t forget to greet him with a bow. If you have to talk with him, don’t forget to say ‘Sir’ and if he asks you why you are standing, be careful. Don’t answer him, bow and be quiet for a few seconds and wait for him to go away. Any other way and you will be ‘fit for food’ [his victim]!”

Irakli Tsurtsumia went to the police station to get information regarding his neighbor Zviad Kharebava’s detention. While meeting with the chief of the station he did not forget to greet Khubulava but attempted to answer the Chief’s query, guaranteeing trouble. “I went to the police station at 1 o’clock am for the third time with Kharebava’s sister. Kharebava was brought to the police station from narcotics verification.  The chief of police came near the building with a car. While entering the police station, Chief Koba Khubulava came to me and asked me why I was standing there. I tried to explain to him why, but he became very irritated, began using bad language and then began to punch me.  I was shocked and tried to defend myself from his attack. In response, I also used bad language and punched Khubulava, something that I will not deny even now. It was self-defense. It was obvious that the chief of the police station was surprised by my reaction. He tried to intimidate me with a registered weapon; he was ready to shoot me. He was stopped by other police officials who took his weapon away from him. Then they put me in irons and took me to Khubulava’s office. He continued using bad language,” Tsurtsumia recalls.

There are eye witnesses to the incidents which took place at the Khobi police station, but they have not been interrogated yet. The investigation did not seem interested in the evidence against Irakli Tsurtsumia. In spite of the fact that Irakli Tsurtsumia requested to be interrogated since he was first detained, it was only after 50 in Zugdidi jail №4 that he was finally questioned. The only person who was interested in Irakli Tsurtsumia’s interrogation was Khobi municipal court judge Shota Siradze, but he was unable to find evidence of the interrogation in the case files. “When the judge could not find evidence of my interrogation in the case,” Tsurtsumia explains, “he requested an explanation from the investigator. Dato Akhalaia reminded Judge Siradze about a new law that he was probably not familiar with, which states that it is not necessary to interrogate a suspect. The judge was surprised by the investigator’s answer and asked on what basis he should act. Akhalaia advised him to act on the basis of the prosecutor’s application to the court. It’s only cynicism to talk about the supremacy of law in these conditions.”

Irakli Tsurtsumia expected an apology from the chief of police, if not some sort of punishment for his actions. He could not have imagined that he would be accused himself. The circumstances under which Tsurtsumia was charged can make things even worse for him. Tsurtsumia is threatened to the arrest from 2 to 5 years according to the article 373, the first part of the Georgian Criminal Code.

“After getting information about Kharebava’s detention,” Tsurtsumia says, “they say I broke into the police station, that officials called me on the order and advised me to go home. Instead, they say I did not obey them and beat 4 policemen. Further, it is stated that Koba Khubulava came to the scene and I began to beat him as well. I am then to have raided his office and damaged others’ property. I state for the people who try to dishonor me that I have no criminal past and I have never committed any illegal act, unlike the swindlers who spread this kind of false information about me. Those who say that I was under the influence of narcotics or that I was drunk can see the materials of interrogation. I was not examined and I have never been in any suspect condition”.

On October 5th, Irakli Tsurtsumia left Zugdidi jail. He spent his 21 days in cell №21. According to him he had to live in prison in inhuman conditions. There were 25 prisoners in his cell fit with only 14 beds. Prisoners slept one after the other, with the exception of a 71 year-old prisoner who always had place to rest as others respected him and let him have a spot. Irakli Tsurtsumia left 615 prisoners in the 230 place Zugdidi jail №4.

The violation in the society, in law enforcement and penal agencies, human rights violations in every field became the reason of the fact that Irakli Tsurtsumia said his protest loudly. He prefers to be a prisoner in jail than while being free. On October 22nd, while establishing a regional branch of the Egalitarian Institute, Irakli Tsurtsumia called on the population to fight against violence and to overcome their feelings of fear.

According to Jaba Jishkariani, one of the leaders of the Egalitarian Institute, the police stations of Merabishvili, Adeishvili and Kublashvili are purposely implementing violence against society. “They can kill the young people without a reason and peruse us,” Jishkariani says, “but they cannot kill the will to be free and alive inside all of us. The whole of society will protect the rights of Irakli Tsurtsumia with us and then the unbridled government of Saakashvili will have nowhere to go”.

The members of Equality Institute will be holding demonstrations during Irakli Tsurtsumia’s trial.

Nana Pajava, Zugdidi