PM warns criminals with severe punishment after ex-police arrested for kidnapping

Updated: 11.22 am

PM: "The whole Ministry of Internal Affairs was in the hands of criminals"

"Any person who has plans against our state and our citizens will be severely punished”. With these words Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili warned would-be offenders while commenting on the detention of two former police officers.

Former employee of the Constitutional Security Department (CSD) Durmishkhan Gvachliani and ex-employee of the Special Operative Department (SOD) Jemal Shonia, and two others were arrested yesterday for allegedly taking a person hostage for ransom.

"The whole Ministry of Internal Affairs was in the hands of such criminals, kidnappers, murderers and robbers and they were ruling Georgia. It is yet unclear who is behind this [kidnapping], the Ministry and the Minister are now working to find this out,” Garibashvili said.

"This crime was not accidental"

The PM thought the alleged crime by the two ex- police officers was not accidental.

I have a reasonable suspicion that there is an organised group behind all this. I am also under the impression that it is [United] National Movement’s handwriting but, of course, it needs investigation. This is what Chikaidze was talking about just a month ago," he noted.

Garibashvili noted he had dismissed the two men from their positions two years ago while he was Minister of Internal Affairs.

"The operation was personally led by the Interior Minister. He he called me personally at 7 am and told me that the detainees were kidnappers. I would like to once again remind the Georgian population of who had been ruling Georgia [previously],” he said.

The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the personnel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for conducting the operation at a high professional level, which resulted in the release of hostage Ioseb Giorkhelidze and his safe return to his family.

Final warning

"I would like to warn the people who stand behind this and whose dirty heads have been preparing this brutality for years. These are the people who committed the Khurcha terror attack, who were raping and torturing people in police stations and prisons, who were kidnapping and murdering people. I want to give them a final warning to come to their senses. If they do something against our citizens and our state they will be severely punished," he said.

***

Earlier: 11.20pm, 13 October 

Two former police officers and two others have been arrested for allegedly taking a person hostage for ransom. 

Former employee of the Constitutional Security Department (CSD) Durmishkhan Gvachliani and ex-employee of the Special Operative Department (SOD), and two others were arrested for capturing and illegally detaining Ioseb Giorkhelidze.

The CSD and SOD were established by former president Mikheil Saakashvili but were the two special departments were immediately closed when Georgian Dream came into power in October 2012. The country’s new leaders claimed that very often the ex-Govt used these special force teams for unlawful reasons.

According to the investigation, on October 10 the accused stormed into Giorkhelidze's house, threatened him with a gun, dragged him outside and took him hostage. The same day, the kidnappers contacted Giorgkhelidze’s father Ramin Giorkhelidze and demanded $300,000 USD (525,000 GEL) in exchange for his son’s freedom.

Ramin Giorkhelidze addressed law enforcers for help. The alleged kidnappers were captured on October 12 and 13. The suspects were carrying a pistol and 10,000 USD (17,500 GEL).