1. Mr.Zaza Chkhaberidze, a prisoner of Kutaisi Isolator No. 2 writes: "I was born on September 3, 1973. My wife, our infant and I live at 18 Oni str., Gumathes settlement, Kutaisi On July 11, 1996 in the village of Djimastaro, Tskaltubo Region, I met with the former deputy head of Gumathes Police Mr.Temur Chkhikvadze He arrested me without any sanction and took me to Tskaltubo Police Department, where he currently is the head of Criminal Investigation Department. At the police station I was subjected to severe tortures. The Mr. Chkhikvadze, who has a personal vendetta with me, forced me to take upon myself responsibility for a bandit attack I had not participated in. In my letter to the investigator, I wrote about my innocence and Mr. Chkhikvade's malicious motivations to incriminate me. Presently, I am kept at the investigation isolator #2 in Kutaisi. I was informed that the time-limits of the sanction, previously expiring on November 11, were prolonged. Since then, I have neither received any information about prolongation of my sanction, nor the investigator or procurator came to me. So, this is the way the Tskaltubo Police Department is investigating the case".
2 On December 16, David Amashukeli and Victor Morozov were driving through the centre of Tbilisi. They were stopped by the policemen , who started beating them immediately after the victims left their car. The policemen took Mr.Amashukeli and Mr.Morozov to the Narcological Centre. According to the doctor, Svetlana Krivshenko, the detainees were beaten in the Narcological Centre as well. Then Mr. Morozov was released, and Mr. Amashukeli was taken in the unknown direction. As it appeared later, he was taken to Tbilisi Hospital #2. According to the doctor on duty, Mr. Amashukeli gave no sign of life and, as a result of broken skull, 25 years old David Amashukeli died in hospital. According to the information we possess, three policemen are detained in the connection to Mr. Morozov's illegal arrest and Mr. Amashukeli's murder.
3 A statement of Mrs. Nato Shovnadze, who resides at 15 Tsalendjikha str, Tbilisi: "Even the Soviet regime, internationally infamous for its illegality, paid due attention to an individual's self- esteem and persecuted violations against his/her rights. Now, when the new Constitution marked the beginning of democratic principles, the state attitude towards an individual's pride should have improved, but it did not. I shall give my example: My husband Artur Vartanyan, six-years-old son Giorgi, and I at 15 Tsalendjikha str., Tbilisi. As far as we are hard-up, we temporarily moved to Salsky City, Rostov region, where my husband's parents live; they are supporting us. We arrive in Tbilisi twice a year and we live either at my parents', who live in Didi Digomi, or in our flat. For the last time we arrived this August and returned to Salsky on September 14. This November 17, my father Jumber Shonvadze asked me to arrive as soon as possible, as my mother was taken ill. I went to my flat, but could not enter it, because it was sealed up. As my neighbors, Archil Djordjiashvili and Vakhtang Ivanidze, told me, the investigator the Isani Office of the Public Procurator, Mamuka Gigilashili. The fact, that they have broken the door in order to enter the flat, is most shocking, while they could have asked my father to bring a key. Obviously, that they did not want my father to witness their malicious actions. Afterwards, they drew a record, according to which, they discovered eight the bullets in my apartment. It is an outrageous lie! I declare, that we had no bullets and the investigator Gigilashil and his companions planted them in our apartment. As the witnesses announce, the investigator and his companions entered the flat first, and only afterwards the witnesses were admitted; later they were forced to sign the record. I wonder, who gave an order to search our flat and who will be accountable for such an illegality. The new Constitution categorically prohibits conducting a search by procurator's office or another body without a justified decree. I have not entered and examined the flat yet, but I do not exclude, that they may have stolen something as well. Who will be responsible for such a robbery, if not those, who have violated my civil rights? When my father and I went to the Mr. Gigilashili, we told him, that the police did not call our relatives deliberately and that they would answer for it. Investigator Mamuka Giligashvili answered: "I broke the door, because I did not consider necessary to call you." Moreover, he pushed my father and suggested that one should not bite of more than he can chew. The next incident took place in November 26, 1996 during my interrogation at the Isani Office of the Public Procurator. There was another person, I had not seen him before; moreover, I do not know, whether he is an employee of law-enforcement bodies at all. Probably, the investigator knows everything. As the above-mentioned neighbors informed me, this incident was connected with the murder of a certain Lomeiko, and my husband was accused of this murder. The investigation will show, that my husband is innocent, but who will answer for those rough violations of our civil rights, that brought such a great moral and physical harm to us.
N. Shonvadze 28.12.96.
4 Sozar Subeliani Kavkasioni, 14/XII Police captain Mr. Gia Telia was in pre-trial detention for 11 months. He was accused of a murder and other crimes too. According to Mr. Telia, he was severely tortured. An extract from his statement: "The employees of Internal Ministry, who were dressed in uniforms, opened the door of Internal Minister Shota Kviraia's study and pushed me in. The policemen with fire-guns were in the study too. They beat me with butts until I was all covered with blood. Then they took me to a bath-room. The minister's study had a bath-room "for special purposes". Mr.Kviraia entered with a gun, aimed at me and said: "I have worked at Moscow Security Committee before becoming the minister, I used to burn the wounded soldiers in Afghanistan with my own hands, so I do not find it difficult to burn you too". For the present, Mr. Telia is released from pre-trial detention, though the investigation still continues.
5 Since March 25, 1996 the Supreme Court of Abkhazian Autonomous Republic charged Mr. Vasil Zhestovsky, born in 1955 and residing in Sukhumi, according to paragraph 3 of article 104 and paragraph 4 of article 17-104. On April 14, 1995, he was taken to Poti Mental Hospital of Strict Regime for compulsory evaluation and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Mr. Zhestovsky has passed the psychiatric clearance at Poti Mental Hospital several times (May 29, 1994, December 29, 1994, December 16, 1995 and June 15, 1996). The board of psychiatrists concluded that Mr. Zhestovsky posed no threat to the society, thus he could be taken to mental hospital for further treatment under usual control. Despite multiple verifications of their diagnosis, the Abkhazian Supreme Court declined the mediation of doctors at Poti Mental Hospital of Strict Control.
On December 18 1996 Mr.Gela Gogichaishvili was sentenced to death; the Procurator demanded death sentence for Mr.Ilia Machitadze as well. Thus, the number of prisoners sentenced to death grew to 52.
6 We are publishing several extracts from the accused Mr. Gocha Makhviladze's appeal (presently, he is at Avtchala Colony No.7): "I was arrested on June 24, 1992, in the building of Georgian State Tele-Radio Department during the well-known events, followed by the manifesto of August 3, 1992. I am being illegally detained since June 24, 1992. I was tried for the case No749810, if one could call a trail the circus Mr. Mirza Dolidze, the member of the Supreme Court, conducted. On September 13, 1993, for the second time I was ejected from the court room; and the next day, on September 14, through the mediation of the Public Prosecutor, I was deprived of the right for an attorney. Thus I was left out of the trail and without a lawyer, while both paragraphs of the accusation ( 78 and 17-67 (imply capital punishment. Despite the gravest accusations and rough violations against me, the court repudiated both charges: participation in banditism and preparation of a terrorist act. Still the Board of the Supreme Court under M. Dolidze's chairmanship, sentenced me to 12 years of imprisonment, serving at strict regime colony. All international human rights activists recognized that the sentence is illegal. In May 1995 Amnesty International asked the Georgian authorities to hold a repeated trial for 17 accused sentenced on March 6, 1995. As far as I know, Amnesty Inernational is a well established organisation among the democratic states and respected by Mr. Shevardnadze himself. On March 24, 1995, I made an official appeal to Mr. Jamlet Babilashvili, the Procurator General, where I rejected the manifesto of August 3, 1992 and demanded the investigation #7493810 to be terminated and hold a re-trial. Articles 4 and 5 of the Criminal Code of Georgia provides legal basis for my demands. The legislation says: "If a person declines an amnesty, the Procurator's Office is obliged to continue an investigation of a case and hold a trial". On April 18, 1995, I made the same statement towards Mr. Tedo Ninidze, the Justice Minister. On October 2, 1995, I went on hunger-strike and subsequently, the authority of that period promised to satisfy my legal requirements, though...On August 16, 1996, I sent a closed letter to Mr. Jamlet Babilashvili, Procurator General, from Avtchala Colony no.7. I made the same demand, though I have received no answer. On September 19, 1995, I applied Mr. Tedo Ninidze, the Justice Minister, again. Still silence... I decline the manifesto of August 3, 1992, and demand to complete the investigation of criminal case #7492815 and hold a re-trial ( I shall name the organizer of the armed conflict in Tbilisi on June 24, 1992, only during the trial ). Note: On June 24, 1992, several supporters of ex-president Zviad Gamsakhurdia burst into the building of Teleradio Department and occupied it. Some hours later the armed forces of the authority of that period took the building by storm and arrested most supporters of ex-president being in the building. According to the manifesto of August 3, 1992, the authority released the persons, who participated in this action.
7 Mr.Vitali Gurdjiev was arrested in October 1996 by the Procurator's Office of Tsalka Region. According to the statement of his relatives, was severely tortured and forced to confess to a murder he had not committed. The same sources indicate that Mr. Gurdjiev tried to commit suicide three times.
8 On February 12, 1994 Giorgi Tsereteli and his friend Edik Oganezov left Tbilisi for Stavropol, Russia in order to find a job. The latter returned in some months and asked G. Tsereteli's family for jewelry and clothes supposedly for their son. Afterwards Tsereteli's mother was informed, that Edik Oganezov was wanted by the Stavropol Police in connection with a murder committed in Stavropol. For a time E. Oganezov was hiding himself, then he appeared in Tbilisi. As far as G. Tsereteli's family has not received any information about their son since February 1994, they doubt, that he has been killed in Stavropol and Mr.Oganezov is implicated in this murder. Tsereteli's family has numerously applied to Internal Ministry and regional branches of Procurator's Office, as well as to Internal Minister, but they confirm, that the information from Stavropol has been lost (or did not exist at all). The employees of law-enforcement bodies were obliged to send an inquiry to Stavropol about the murder and ask, whether Mr. Tsereteli was really killed, and if Mr.Oganezov is implicated in this murder. Though law-enforcement bodies failed to do it and the Tsereteli family has no opportunity to bring the body to its native country (Mr. Tsereteli's brother was died in the Abkhazian war in 1993).
We possess a materials, which document human rights violations:
9 The Supreme Court of Georgia is investigating the case of the defendant Mr. Zviad Koridze , who is accused of keeping arms illegally and participating in an armed robbery. On the session of December 3, 1996 the Procurator demanded that Mr. Koridze be sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. The trail revealed serious gaps in the Procurator's case: the prosecution based its accusations on the information Mr. Koridze had "provided" during the preliminary investigation; the Procurator failed to present either physical evidence or the accomplices confirming the allegations against Mr. Koridze (there were several gangsters in the armed robbery Mr. Koridze is accused of). The prosecution built its case on the evidence of two policemen who contradict the statements by other witnesses. Such grave mistakes on the Procurator's side, give credibility to Mr. Koridze's statement at the trail - he was forced to sign the "confession" under psychological and physical coercion.
10 Rezonansi, 19/XII, 1996 "On October 26, 1996 at 6 a.m. Mr.Batalbi Gerliani's body was discovered in the cell of the Ortachala isolator #4. According to the official version, he hanged himself; the inspector on duty Ali Musa-Ogli affirms that through the door hole he saw Mr. Gerliani hanging. Mr. Batalbi Gerliani was detained in Dmanisi on September 19, on October 18 he was transferred to Tbilisi. According to his cell-mates, Mr. Gerliani tried to commit a suicide three times, twice - by means of a knife, and the third time he managed to cut his veins with a spoon. Consequently, he was ordered for a transfer to a punishment-cell for 10 days, but he could not be transferred to isolator without the procurator's permission ( the Procurator was nowhere to be found over the week-end. Thus, Mr.Gerliani was taken to the cell #4. There was only one more detainee in the cell #4, but he demanded to be taken to another cell. Mr. Gerliani was left alone and at 6 a.m. he was found hanging from the wall. This is an official version. Mr. Gerliani's wife, Izolda Gerliani is sure, that her husband would not have committed suicide and demands an investigation. Mr. Gerliani's relatives were informed about his death two days later. According to the prisoners, for the last three days of his life, Mr.Gerliani left a strong impression of a emotionally disturbed person; and he had tried to commit suicide three times. If the prisoners are telling the truth, it is surprising why the prison administration isolated him, instead of rendering him medical assistance. Much has been written about the grave situation at the places of imprisonment in Georgia. The strict regime and cruel attitude of employees towards the prisoners makes life of the captives even more unbearable. If we want to live in a civilised country, we should address this issue first ".