Supreme Court clears ex-Defence Minister of torture

The Supreme Court has upheld a verdict acquitting Georgia’s former Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia of inhumane treatment of army personnel.

Another person charged in relation to the same case had his verdict reversed by the Supreme Court. Merab Kikabidze was acquitted of the charge twice before but was today found guilty of negligence and was imposed with a $10,000 GEL fine.

The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal verdict for Alexander Gorgadze, who was earlier sentenced three years and nine months of imprisonment. The Supreme Court ordered this to be reduced to three years and four months.

Akhalaia, who was also a former Interior Minister, earlier pled not guilty and was acquitted of this charge by the Court of Appeal and city court. The Court of Appeal exonerated Akhalaia for inhumane treatment of Army personnel on December 4, 2013. At the time the Court partially accepted the Prosecutor’s complaint and two other people –Gorgadze and Zurab Shamatava– were charged in relation to the same crime and found guilty.

Gorgadze and Shamatava were arrested in the courtroom and sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment.

In total, eight people were initially charged for inhumane treatment of Army personnel in this case.

The City Court initially found all eight people not guilty of the charge, which involved three incidents: torture of soldiers in Senaki base, torture of soldiers in Vaziani base and illegal imprisonment of Zviad Abesade. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office complained to the Court of Appeal, who looked into the case and changed the verdict against two of the people involved. The complaint was then submitted to the Supreme Court.