In Georgia, head of "Kakheti Information Centre" demands to investigate threats against him

Gela Mtivlishvili, the head of the independent agency "Kakheti Information Centre" filed a complaint to the Georgian Prosecutor's Office against the threatening letters, which he received on his email in the name of Levan Sachishvili, ex-Prosecutor of Kakheti.

"On November 9 I sent a formal complaint via email to the prosecutor's office demanding an investigation into the threatening letters, which arrived to my email in the name of Levan Sachishvili," Gela Mtivlishvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The threatening letter came to the Mtivlishvili's address on Sunday, November 6; however, the editor of the "Kakheti Information Centre" found it only on Monday, November 7.

"The letter included the following sentence: "Mtivlishvili, will you meet me? I'll level you with the ground..." Then the letter contained threats to kill me and everything like that," reported Gela Mtivlishvili to Georgian media.

When the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent asked him whether he was sure that the letter came namely from the email address of Sachishvili, Gela Mtivlishvili answered in the affirmative.

"At first, I also suggested that somebody cheated me or that it was a provocation, since anyone can sign up at "Google", "Yahoo", "Hotmail" and other mail systems under the name of any other person and send letters in the name of the others. However, I showed this letter to my friends, and we agreed that this was still the letter from Sachishvili," states Gela Mtivlishvili.

When asked how the sender could find out the email address of the editor of the "Kakheti Information Centre", Gela Mtivlishvili replied that his address was listed on the contact page of his agency's website "ick.ge"; thus, anyone can send him a message.

According to Gela Mtivlishvili, on November 4 his agency reported that Sachishvili had been dismissed from his position, prosecuted and assigned a bail as the form of pre-trial restriction. "I believe that this fact caused his anger," the "Panorama.am" quotes Mtivlishvili as saying.

According to the "Kakheti Information Centre," Sachishvili is accused of malicious abuse of official power, since he failed to file a charge against a suspect in a case during the statutory period, and the suspect had been released from criminal liability. This became known when the MP Giorgi Chiviashvili was appointed the Regional Prosecutor of Kakheti. The Prosecutor's Office refused to comments on the case against Sachishvili, the "Georgia Online" reports.

According to Gela Mtivlishvili, yet before the dismissal of Levan Sachishvili from his position at the Prosecutor's Office in connection with charges of abuse of official power, he and another law enforcement officer were involved in the incident with the beating a man in the city of Telavi, the man was hospitalized. According to Gela Mtivlishvili, the agency failed to obtain any information on this incident at the hospital or at the Regional Prosecutor's Office.

"Levan Sachishvili posted no comments on the journalists' questions whether he was threatening me via email on the "Facebook" or "Odnoklassniki" (Classmates) or in any other networks where he had been registered. However, Sachishvili did not deny this information," says Gela Mtivlishvili.

The social network "Facebook" has registered the only person with the name of Levan Sachishvili residing in Kakheti. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent tried to find out whether the webpage belonged to the ex-Prosecutor of Kakheti; however, the posted questions yet remain unanswered. The phone of Levan Sachishvili was also unavailable.

After the official complaint was filed by Gela Mtivlishvili, the Prosecutor's Office of Kakheti would have to investigate who had sent the threats against him.

Tamar Kordzaya, the representative of the "Georgian Young Lawyers Association", claimed the need for this investigation to prevent any attempts to exert pressure on the media.