Vegetable Khna or Dry Marihuana

One Expertise Conclusion VS Two Other Expertise Conclusions

Talal Azis Al Muhamed from Iraq is charged under Article 260, Part I of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Three experts  conducted analyses on the substance that was discovered on him. According to the conclusions of the alternative and commission experts, the substance taken from the Talal Azis Al Muhamed does not contain narcotics. The claims of the investigation expert are different. The court has not considered the case for three years. This year, the third judge has considered the investigation.

The accused Talal Azis Al Muhamed recalled the detention and said that when police stopped him they checked his car and withdrew khna, hair dye, from his bag. The policemen insisted that it was narcotics. According to the bill of particulars “13, 9 gram of dry marihuana was discovered on the accused Talal Muhamed in August of 2006. The narcotics were purchased from an unidentified person. The accused had packed them in white polyethylene bag and had hidden it in the bag.” The bill of particulars was drawn up on August 8, 2006. However, the court started the consideration of the case in 2009. Currently the accused is bailed for 100 000 GEL. Muhamed suposes that a group of people were interested in his arrest. “I am not sure but I think somebody wanted me to be detained. I am going to fight to the end. I will not sign a plea-bargain. I am not guilty. It was not drugs,” said Talal Azis Al Muahmed. He has been living in Georgia for several years already. He runs the Cigarette Distribution Company.

Lawyers Mirza Dolidze and Edisher Makharadze, lawyers for the Human Rights Center are protecting the rights of the accused Muhamed. Currently, the Batumi City Court is considering the case.

One Expert’s Conclusion VS Two Other Expert’s Conclusions

Currently, there are conclusions of three experts in the case materials. Shorena Mukhashavria, an expert of the Criminalist Department of Adjara Ministry of Internal Affairs is the author of the first conclusion. The lawyers for the accused stated that analysis by the expert lasted for 8 hours and thus the legal rule for treating the evidence was breached and restricted the procedural rights of the accused. “During the analysis of the forensic expert the accused Muhamed was willfully deprived of all his rights.Aamong those rights wasthe right to refuse the help of the expert; to ask questions, etc. The expert analysis that was carried out through procedural violations concluded that the vegetable substance-Khna- contained narcotics.”

A leading expert-chemist’s analysis was conducted on the withdrawn substance in addition to the analsis of Shorena Mukhashavria. The alternative and forensic commission expert concluded that the substance did not contain narcotics. In addition to that, a foreign expert-chemist also studied the conclusions of the Georgian experts on the substance and concluded that “every expert unilaterally indicated that it is impossible to suppose that the substance contained narcotics. It is doubtless that the conclusion of analysis conducted by Sh. Mukhashavria is not valid proof against T. Muhamed.”

Conclusion N 1: Sh. Mukhashavria, expert of Expert Criminalist Department of Adjara Autonomous Republic: “In regard to the criminal case N  090060795 launched against Talal Muhamed we carried out chemical analysis on the substance and we concluded that the 13, 9 grams of vegetable substance is dry marihuana.”

Conclusion N 2: (alternative expert) Kh. Omiadze, expert for National Bureau of Forensic Expertise. “It is impossible to give categorical answer regarding the provided greenish-grey vegetable substance. According to preliminary analysis the substance does not contain marihuana.”

Conclusion N 3: (Commission Chemical Expert), expert K. Baramidze: “1. The provided substance does not contain the substances that are registered in the data base of TOXI-L: like Heroin, Morphin, Codein, Metadon, Tramadol, Metamfetamini, Amfetamini, Metakvaloni and others. 2. The provided substance did not contain marihuana or any of its related products like canabinoid; so the substance is not marihuana disregarding the storage term of the product.”

Regarding the conclusions the state prosecutor sent us to the press-center of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office. In a private conversation the prosecutor Avtandil Kochlamazashvili stated that during the investigation there was only one conclusion. He said that the passage of time caused the substance to change but before that it contained narcotics.

“Moveable” Case

The Court started the investigation of the case this year. However, during this period already three judges were in charge of this case. Initially, Roin Kakhidze from Batumi City Court was considering the case against Talal Azis Al Muhamed.

Edisher Makharadze, a lawyer for the Adjara office of the Human Rights Center, cannot find any reasonable reason why the judges have been changed in this case. “I am astonished by the fact that different judges are considering this case one after another. The formal reason for these changes was a one-week holiday of the judge. A New judge, in accordance with the current procedural law, should implement the court investigation process from the very beginning. A 10-day-delay could not work as a ground to pass the case from one to another judge. Besides that, the case was submitted to the court in 2006 and it has not been considered for three years.”

“Supposedly, Judge Roin Kakhidze concluded after studying the case that the judgment should be passed in favor of the accused. A judgment of acquittal is completely reasonable in this case and any other verdict is impossible to be passed. Maybe, during the new consideration of the case, as a result of the agreement between the judge and the prosecutor a new chemical forensic expert will be appointed. There are no legal grounds for that if the substance has not been changed or false conclusions have not been delivered by the expert. The conclusion of any expert will be the same as the alternative and commission expertise-there is no narcotics in the substance.”

“It is obvious that the prosecutor cannot deny its accusations and the court cannot pass acquittal judgment because they are rather concerned about the 100 000 GEL that was paid as a bail and not about the guilt of the accused Muhamed.” 

The Human Rights Center requested Batumi City Court to issue information about the holiday of Judge Roin Kakhadze. However, the copy of the resolution on holiday has not been provided since March 23, 2009. Lali Kutatelidze, the responsible person for public information at the court, stated that “we can issue the requested information after the Council of Justice has sent corresponding resolution to us.”

Judge Jemal Kiknadze, former chairperson of Batumi City Court, is now in charge of the case of Talal Muhamed. On March 18 the court started the investigation from the very beginning. One witness was interrogated. The next trial is scheduled for April 2 and a new judge, Davit Gelashvili will be involved in the case by that time.

Maka Malakmadze,Batumi