Bacho Akhalaya sentenced to 9 years in prison on torture case

Bacho Akhalaya, a former Georgian Defence Minister, was found guilty of using torture against Colonel Sergo Tetradze. The convict has treated his verdict as insulting.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 2, 2014, the Georgian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) accused Bacho Akhalaya of giving an order, when in 2011 he headed the Penitentiary Service, to use torture against defendants suspected of espionage; one of them was Colonel Sergo Tetradze, who eventually passed away.

On April 23, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Bacho Akhalaya to nine years of freedom deprivation, the RIA "Novosti" writes, referring to State Prosecutor Maya Djvarsheishvili.

Nikoloz Dzimtseishvili, Akhalaya's former deputy and a figurant in the same case, was sentenced to four years in prison in absentia, as he is currently on the wanted list.

Bacho Akhalaya has stated that he considers the verdict handed down by the court against him as insulting. "This verdict, this court, and this authority as a whole are busy with inflicting such an insult on me, which should destroy me morally forever," the "Echo of the Caucasus" quotes the statement circulated on his behalf.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.