Investigator arrested for 2017 assault on citizen in Georgia’s east following ECHR ruling

The Special Investigation Service of Georgia on Friday said it had arrested an investigator of the Sighnaghi Unit of the Kakheti Police Department in the country’s east for a physical assault of a citizen in 2017, following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights and a new investigation by the body.

The Service said the ruling had come on the case of citizen Vladimir Mchedlishvili, who was arrested following a verbal altercation with police officers who had requested him to stop drinking alcohol in a public space in Sighnaghi in May 2017.

The investigator of the local police department then physically assaulted and verbally abused Mchedlishvili in detention, causing broken ribs and other injuries to the detained citizen, the body said.

It said the victim had applied to the ECHR, with the Court finding violation of of the article of the European Convention on Human Rights that prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Georgian authorities were ordered to conduct a new investigation following the ruling, with the inquiry completed this year after new evidence was obtained and led to the arrest of the investigator.

The crime is punishable by imprisonment for five to eight years.