Shida Kartli Regional Prosecutor Violates Human Rights

Kakha Muradashvili was appointed to the position of regional prosecutor after having taken internship courses at the Gori Prosecutor’s Office. Non-governmental organizations, journalists and lawyers claim that Muradashvili is the “protector” who most grossly violates human rights in the region. Muradashvili plays some role in all important cases that come through the Gori Prosecutor’s Office. Muradashvili is responsible for cases involving mentally disabled people, the elderly, single mothers and detainees arrested for minor hooliganism. The Gori District Court generally satisfies Muradashvili’s demands immediately.

A story of the detention of eighty-year-old man and single mother

Prosecutor Muradashvili demanded that single mother Nana Jamaspishvili be sent to jail for giving conflicting testimony. Jamaspishvili was testifying in an investigation as to why her eighty-year-old neighbor Gogi Tskhovrebashvili was detained in September.

Muradashvili accused the eighty-year-old man of kidnapping and attempting to sell Nana Jamaspishvili’s four-year-old daughter.
 
On November 1st, Tskhovrebashvili took Mziko Jamaspishvili to visit his daughter, Nana Tskhovrebashvili. On the mini-bus to his daughter’s home, the old man joked that he was selling the child. Having heard that, an individual named Bliadze traveling on the same mini-bus called the Gori police station and reported that a man was trying to sell a child.

After leaving his daughter’s house with the child, Tskhovrebashvili and the little girl were arrested near Public School 4 and were taken to the police station.

Three days later, on November 4th, Tskhovrebashvili’s daughter and the mother of the child sought out the Human Rights Center for legal assistance. Jamaspishvili claimed that she trusted the old man with her daughter very often and never had any complaints about him. “On that day, ‘grandfather Gogi’ asked my permission to take my daughter to visit his daughter,” Jamaspishvili said on September 4. “I refused, saying that I was going to take my daughter to the doctor. I later found out that my daughter started crying when she saw that the old man was leaving for his daughter’s house. ‘Grandfather Gogi’ loved my daughter very much and often bought sweets for her. Very often he fed her at his house. I am very poor and we live in a damp room in a dormitory.”
 
After the Human Rights Center brought this story to the attention of the mass media, Jamaspishvili was summoned to the Gori police station again on September 10th, where she wrote the following testimony: “I did not know when he took my daughter from home. My conversation with journalists was made under the influence of the old man’s relatives.”

Natia Kaliashvili, lawyer for the Human Rights Center’s Gori Office petitioned Prosecutor Muradashvili to interview the Jamaspishvili again. “There were some concerns that the woman was writing her testimony based on orders being given by law enforcement,” Kaliashvili said. “We demanded the prosecutor re-interview the woman with an attorney present, which they refused to do several times. Jamaspishvili is demanding the same.”

The criminal case was sent to the court on November 1st. Jamaspishvili recalled the details of the situation in the same way she initially told the HRIDC’s journalists. That final testimony Jamaspishvili made at the trial is the reason behind her current detention. The Prosecutor stated at the court hearing that Jamaspishvili’s testimony during the preliminary investigation contradicted to the one she made at trial. More precisely, the Prosecutor cast doubt on Jamaspishvili’s statement that, “the old man was not prohibited to be close to my daughter.” The Prosecutor claimed that Jamaspishvili had initially stated that the old man was prohibited from contact with the little girl.

Lawyer Kaliashvili still argues that Nana Jamaspishvili was arbitrarily detained.

“An eighty-year-old man is arrested for trafficking the child and the main witness in the case is this Bliadze, who is a secret agent of the police,” Kaliashvili argues. “The police claim that the old man was arrested at the scene of the crime when the case materials demonstrate that the child and the man were detained while they were walking on the street. The child’s mother, Nana Jamaspishvili, testified during the preliminary and court investigations that the child had willingly followed the old man. But she also stated that the old man was not allowed contact with her daughter. Based on this, we cannot observe any contradicting statements in her two testimonies that would be sufficient grounds for arrest. The principal accusation against the old man is attempting to sell the child. However, there is no ‘purchaser’ in the case materials and the act never took place. The investigation is in deadlock. Instead of punishing the secret spies of the police for fraudulent testimony, the prosecutor’s office is trying to punish innocent victims.”

Nana Jamaspishvili is currently out of prison. She will be remanded to the local prison unless she pays her 2,000 lari bail by December 7th. Nana Jamaspishvili does not have her own flat.

Detention of the Mentally Disabled

Based on Prosecutor Muradashvili’s request, dmentally disabled Achiko Surameli was sentenced to three-years in prison. His cousin, Zurab Janezashvili, who is also mentally disabled, was forcibly committed to the Foti Mental Hospital.

Surameli and Janezashvili were detained on March 3rd for thievery. They were accused of stealing plastic billboard frames. Both have certificates from the Gori regional Psycho-Neurological Dispensary. Surameli is described as having “mental disability, with slight idiotism,” while Janezashvili is described as having had a “psychotic nervous breakdown caused by traumas to the brain.”

Both detainees were initially released on 6,000 lari bail but since they could not pay the money, both mentally disabled cousins were sent to prison for a two-month preliminary detention.

Nazi Janezashvili, grandmother of Archil Surameli, said in her conversation with the Human Rights Center that her grandson has mental problems and had already tried to commit suicide several occasions.

The grandmother does not rule out that either Surameli or Janezashvili might try to harm themselves in prison.

Allegedly, Archil Surameli was at home when his cousin Zurab Janezashvili visited him. “Zuriko was holding some plastic things in his hands and asked Achiko to follow him to install them in his booth,” Janezashvili said. “Achiko followed him and soon after they were both arrested.”

Police arrested them near Janezashvili’s booth, which is near the Gori Police Station. Officers took the boys to the billboard and drew up a detention record for them, stating that they had arrested them at the scene of the crime. Their lawyer claimed that Janezashvili picked up the broken frame from the ground and took it home.

Expert results in the case were taken from a twenty-day treatment program at the Psychiatric Department of the L. Samkharadze Court Expertise National Bureau within the Ministry of Justice both suspects underwent in June.

Surameli and Janezashvili’s forcible treatment concluded June 27th. According to the experts’ findings, Zurab Janezashvili was found to be mentally disabled and Archil Surameli was declared semi-disabled. Consequently, the Prosecutor’s Office prepared bill of particulars which was sent to the court on July 3rd for further discussion.

The court began discussion of the case three months later. On August 8th, according to the petition of the Prosecutor Muradashvili, Surameli was sentenced to three-months in prison and Janezashvili was committed to a mental hospital for treatment.

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori