Georgian Ombudsman and opposition voice against early relief of policemen-murderers

The Georgian Ombudsman Sozar Subari and leaders of oppositional parties of Georgia are against early relief of the four police officers, who had been sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment each for murdering a bank employee Sandro Girgvliani in early 2006.

Let us remind that Sandro Girgvliani, 28, an employee of the United Bank of Georgia, was found shot dead on January 28, 2006, in the cemetery of Okrokan (a suburb of Tbilisi). Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia, suspected of the murder, were arrested on March 6 of the same year. However, the casualty's relatives and friends believe that just the "pointsmen" were punished, while the customers of the murder remain at large. They are sure that high-ranking employees of the MIA had been involved in the crime, as well as the wife of the present Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili.

In November last year, the imprisonment term of the convicts was halved, and on Saturday, September 5, according to human rights activists, they were early relieved, as reported by Radio Liberty.

"This is complete lawlessness. The release of policemen-murderers means that other policemen can kill innocent people and remain unpunished," Mr Subari told journalists on Sunday, September 6, as quoted by the "Interfax".