Interpol releases warrant for individuals charged with Tatunashvili’s murder

Interpol has issued a red notice for two individuals charged with the illegal deprivation of liberty of three Georgian citizens in February earlier this year and the murder of one of them, 35-year-old Archil Tatunashvili.

A red notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition.

David Gurtsiev and Alik Tabuev, employees of the so-called law enforcement agencies of  Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali region, were indicted by the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia in June 2018 and after several days the Georgian court said that they must be remanded into pre-trial detention. 

However, Gurtsiev and Tabuev are in Tskhinvali, in territory currently  occupied and controlled by Russia and they have not been detained so far.

Gurtsiev and Tabuev were included in the Interpol list yesterday. As soon as they appear and are identified in one of the Interpol member countries, they will be arrested and the Georgian government will take all measures to extradite them to Georgia,” the Georgian Interior Ministry reported.

Georgian Minister for Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili stated that the Georgian government is taking all steps to restore justice and punish the offenders.

The statement of Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office reads that Tatunashvili, who was killed in Tskhinvali on February 23, used to trade in fruits and vegetables in the occupied Akhalgori area with his two companions.

During one of their visits to the occupied territory, Tatunashvili  and his friends  were kidnapped by Taboev and Gurtsiev taken into custody in Tskhinvali.

Tatunashvili was transported to Tskhinvali from Akhalgori, where he was severely tortured, [and where he sustained] more than 100 injuries to his body. Torture led to the death of Tatunashvili,” the Prosecutor’s Office says.

The crimes of which the two men are accused of are punishable by 12-20 years in prison or a life sentence.