Ombudsman of Georgia Studies Revaz Tsalani Beating Incident

Ombudsman of Georgia Studies Revaz Tsalani Beating Incident

Tbilisi, 15.05.06, ‘Media News’ – The Public Defender’s Office of Georgia is studying the facts surrounding the physical assault of Revaz Tsalani. As part of this process, the representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office met with police officers and relatives of Tsalani.

The victim’s family members demand an investigation. According to prosecutor Guliver Gurchaini, an investigation was launched on the 22nd August, on the basis of an appeal made by Tsalani’s family members. Gurchani says that Tsalani did not submit the letter himself.

According to the information obtained by the Ombudsman’s Office, Gurchaini did not register a letter, submitted by Tsalani on the 11th August and launched the investigation only after the second appeal. Gurchaini argues that questioning Tsalani was impossible, as he was always drunk.

According to Inspector Temur Chikovani, Tsalani was beaten up by officers from the Special Operations Group. The names of three of them are known, they are: Malkhaz Tsiklauri, Tariel Fruidze and Solomon Khorbaladze.

The Head of Police Department of Mestia, George Samarghanashvili and other police officers affirm that Tsalani was beaten by members of the Special Operations Group.

On the 10th August 2005, late in the night, Tsalani was driving home when the people wearing special uniforms asked him to stop his car. The victim recalled what happened: “Nowadays everybody wears special military uniforms and carries weapons. They just seemed strange so I carried on my way. They started shooting and stopped me. They severely beat me because I did not stop when they motioned at me to do so”.

Tsalani was seriously injured. Nine months have passed since the incident. He hardly eats or speaks. He is so weak that he is bed bound. Doctors say it is doubtful that he will ever recover. Despite the fact that his family applied to the Svaneti Prosecutor’s Office, a criminal case in regards to the incident was not started.