Concerns in Europe January June 2001
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Allegations of torture and ill-treatment
- Attacks on members of religious minorities
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001 31
Amnesty International September 2001 AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
01/02/91).
G E O R G I A
by police
In the period under review, AI continued to receive allegations of torture and ill-treatment. The organization is
unaware of
any successful prosecutions following investigations into the reported violations.
On 23 June, police from Kolagiri police station in Bolnisi District in the south of Georgia reportedly beat and tortured four men whom they had arrested on charges of theft. The men, one ethnic Greek, Roman Amanatov, two Azerbaijani men, Mahir Abbasov and Vuqar Alirzayev, and a fourth man, name not known, were reportedly subsequently hospitalised. There were allegations that at least one of the men had had his feet punctured with a hand drill, that the men’s bodies had been burnt with cigarettes, and that one of the men had sustained a fractured skull while in detention. Allegedly, police officers have explained the injuries by saying that the men had assaulted each other. The office of the Bolnisi District procurator reportedly opened a criminal investigation into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment on 25 June.
Reports emerged during the period under review that around 10 police officers from Tbilisi’s city police department were involved in the beating and torture of Bachuki Sharvashidze, Dato Sokhadze, Zviad Tavkhelidze and Gia Portchkhidze in police custody in October last year. The torture and ill-treatment was reportedly aimed at forcing the four men to confess to involvement in a group carrying out robberies. On 21 October, Dato Sokhadze and Zviad Tavkhelidze were detained in Tbilisi and brought to the Tbilisi city police department. Bachuki Sharvashidze and Gia Portchkhidze were detained on 30 October - Bachuki Sharvashidze in Kutaisi, from where he was transferred to the Tbilisi city police department the same day. On the evening of 31 October while in custody, Bachuki Sharvashidze, who is a registered invalid as he is missing his right leg, was reportedly seated on a chair and beaten with fists and truncheons on his back, neck and shoulders by five or six men. The beatings were reportedly so severe
that Bachuki
Sharvashidze’s artificial leg became detached from his body. In addition, wires were reportedly attached to his fingers and he was given electric shocks. The torture and ill-treatment is reported to have lasted from 31 October until 3 November. An independent medical examination conducted on 9 November established that he had sustained massive bruising, caused by a long, blunt, hard object, on the front and back of his torso, on his neck and on his shoulders. Dato Sokhadze, a 38-year-old artist, is reported to have been beaten with truncheons, given electric shocks, and drugged in the Tbilisi city police department, over the course of seven days, starting on 21 October. His lawyer stated that the traces of where the electric shocks were said to have been administered were visible on his hand when visiting her client in custody. Zviad Tavkhelidze was also reportedly beaten over seven days, from 21 October. Gia Portchkhidze was reportedly beaten in police custody from 31 October until 3 November. On being transferred to pre-trial detention facilities in Tbilisi (well after the 72 hour limit prescribed by Georgian law), all four renounced their earlier confessions. A special inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is reported to have studied the allegations of torture and ill-treatment in November. However, the investigation was closed within the space of two months, officially due to a lack of evidence. A petition against the head of Tbilisi police regarding the alleged incident has been lodged with the Tbilisi City Procuracy by the four men’s lawyer.
Attacks on members of religious minorities
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/03/00 and EUR 01/001/2001)
A Supreme Court decision on 22 February upheld a lower court’s decision to revoke the registration of the two Jehovah’s Witness entities with the Georgian Ministry of Justice. Both the court and the Jehovah’s Witnesses have emphasised that the ruling does not amount to a ban on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, since religious organizations do not require registration in Georgia, and that the organization is still entitled to hold religious services and import literature. However, the lawyer for the Jehovah’s Witnesses expressed concern that the decision might be misinterpreted. Minister of Justice Mikael Saakashvili was quoted as saying: ‘From a legal standpoint the decision is very doubtful... I don’t think it’s the most successful page in the history of the Supreme Court.’ The court decision has been attributed by local non-governmental organizations as encouraging subsequent attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses. In one such attack, the mayor and local police reportedly refused to intervene when alerted to a series of attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses by a group of about 150 men on 6 March in the town of Sachkhere, western Georgia. Four Orthodox priests are reported to have led the group of men, who are said to have invaded the home of Alexi Ichkitidze, a Jehovah’s Witness, and assaulted him and his wife Nana, as well as a visiting friend, Savle Gotsadze. The group of men then reportedly looted an adjacent apartment, where religious meetings are held, and burnt the religious literature there. They are also reported to have then Yüklə 1,36 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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