Pankisi residents demand to punish persons responsible for Machalikashvili's death

Participants of the action, held on June 19 in the Duisi village in the Pankisi Gorge, have demanded to speed up the investigation into the Temirlan Machalikashvili's case and punish the persons responsible for his death.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that 19-year-old Temirlan Machalikashvili was seriously wounded to his head during a special operation conducted in the Pankisi Gorge on December 26, 2017. He died in hospital on January 10. According to the Georgian law enforcement bodies, Temirlan Machalikashvili tried to throw a grenade to law enforcers and they shot at him. Relatives of the young man claim that he was shot dead in his bed. Earlier, they had already come out to protest actions, and one of the last such actions took place in the Duisi village on April 20.

On June 19, a new protest action was held in Duisi, during which villagers voiced their demands to the Georgian authorities regarding the murder of Temirlan Machalikashvili.

Malkhaz Machalikashvili, a father of the killed young man, demanded the recognition of the crime by the state, recognition of his son as not guilty and the punishment of all persons who took part in the "brutal crime," the "Georgia Online" reports.

According to Malkhaz Machalikashvili, it was a "terror act" committed by the state in the Pankisi Gorge. The man states that if his demands are not met, the protest actions will move to Tbilisi, the "Georgia Online" reports.

The protest action was also attended by Zaza Saralidze, a father of a teenager, killed near a Tbilisi schools on December 1, 2017. The man expressed his solidarity with Malkhaz Machalikashvili.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’on June 20, 2018 at 04:01 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.