Former head of Borjomi Interior Department detained on suspicion of using torture

On November 30, in Tbilisi, Mamuka Khvedeliani, the former head of the Borjomi Department of the Ministry Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia, a majority candidate from the "United National Movement" Party at the parliamentary elections of October 1, was arrested on suspicion of torturing detainees in the Borjomi MIA's Department in 2009.

Mamuka Khvedeliani was detained within the investigation, which was started on November 22 into the fact of inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 144-3) of a person, detained for involvement in a fight that took place several years ago in the dwelling settlement of Bakuriani, the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia reports.

According to investigators, three persons were detained on fact of the fight that occurred on January 1, 2009. They were brought to the UVD (Interior Department) of the Borjomi District by Mamuka Khvedeliani, who at that time was the head of the Department, and they were placed in different rooms. According to prosecutors, one of the detainees was tortured by Mamuka Khvedeliani and UVD staff members Georgy Bliadze, Alexander Bliadze, Sergo Samsonidze, and one more staff member, not identified by the investigators, the IA "News-Georgia" reports with reference to the Prosecutor's Office.

According to the prosecutors, the MIA's staff members extinguished a cigarette in a detainee's ear, and after that, on the order of Mamuka Khvedeliani, they committed an act of sexual violence against him with use of a bottle and a chair leg and shot all on a photo camera. According to the investigators, the policemen threatened the detainee that would place the photos on a billboard in Bakuriani. After the torture, the victim was locked in one of the rooms until morning, and on the day after the interrogation, the detainee was released home, the "Georgia Online" reports.

The information about the incident was presented by a staff member of the Borjomi Department, "who repented of his deed and helped the investigators to reveal the truth and fully confirmed the incident," the Prosecutor's Office reports.

In the case, the very victim was also questioned, and, during the identification parade, carried out within the investigation, he pointed out to the policemen, who had committed the act of sexual violence against him, the Prosecutor's Office reports. On November 30, policeman Alexander Bliadze was also interrogated as a suspect in the case.