Terrorist-accused's sister addresses Prime Minister

The sister of a prisoner charged with executing terrorist acts and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, asks the Prime Minister to reconsider her brothers case.

In her open letter, Nana Kekutia said the only reason her brother Davit Kekutia, a former police officer, was detained was because of the oral testimony of prisoner Merab Kolbaia.

Yesterday the Georgian Chief Prosecutor announced several former high officials had been charged with torturing several prisoners, including Kolbaia.The tortured prisoners had been forced to plead guilty to a charge of preparing a terrorist act, and to name other accomplices.

Nana Kekutia believed this explained why Kolbaia named her innocent brother as a terrorist act organizer.

"Before the October 1 Parliamentary elections, the Prosecutors office had offered us a plea agreement several times at the expense of gaining a confession from us, but neither my brother nor my family compromised, Kekutia wrote in her letter. She added that her brother was an honest policeman who would never commit high treason.

She asked Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to ask the Prosecutors office to reconsider Kekutias case. She also expresses her hopes for the new government to suppress unfairness "committed by the old government.

If the case was reconsidered and her brother was pardoned, Kekutia said they would recall their action from the European Court of Human Rights.

Davit Kekutia was detained in 2011.