Machalikashvili's relatives claim distorted translation of his words in terror act case

On May 10, Malkhaz Machalikashvili, the father of his son Temirlan, shot dead during a special operation in Pankisi, has spent seven hours at the interrogation in the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia, after which he was released. The case of preparing a terror act against a Georgian law enforcer is based on an incorrect translation of words from the Chechen language, Malkhaz's relatives assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 7, the Georgian State Security Service announced that Malkhaz Machalikashvili, the father of Temirlan Machalikashvili, killed during the CTO in the Pankisi Gorge, was plotting a terror act in the village of Zemo Machkhaani at the grave of the father of Ioseb Gogashvili, the former first deputy head of the State Security Service. Malkhaz Machalikashvili called the statement of the Georgian State Security Service absurd.

According to the SSS' version, Malkhaz Machalikashvili instructed his nephew Maurice to hunt down the former first deputy head of the SSS, Iosif Gogashvili, at the cemetery, when he would visit his father's grave, and to commit an explosion there.

According to Anzor, Malkhaz's brother, on May 7, the SSS posted a record of the talk of Malkhaz, his brother, with his son. "The record was so clumsily compiled that I, knowing perfectly the Chechen language, could not understand what they were talking about. Law enforcers have no compromising evidence; and they are trying to compile something from individual words," Anzor Machalikashvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Anzor, Malkhaz blamed Gogashvili for the death of his son Tamerlan, but he never spoke of revenge.

In the afternoon on May 10, Malkhaz Machalikashvili voluntarily appeared for questioning at the SSS of Georgia.

The interrogation of Malkhaz Machalikashvili lasted for seven hours. Leaving the SSS building, the man said that he had answered all the investigators' questions. He has noted that in translating his words from the Chechen language into Georgian, used by the special services, inaccuracies were made, the edition "Netgazeti" has reported.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 11, 2019 at 03:25 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.