23:49, 12 June 2019

Georgia: signatures are collected for parliamentary inquiry into Machalikashvili's murder

Relatives of Temirlan Machalikashvili, 19, who was killed in a special operation in Pankisi, began collecting signatures to a petition on setting up an inquiry commission under the Georgian Parliament. They demand to find those responsible for Temirlan's death, and to assess whether the use of weapons by law enforcers was justified.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Machalikashvili family has been holding actions in Tbilisi for over a year demanding to punish those responsible for Temirlan's murder. On May 29, Georgian MPs voted against setting up a commission for investigating the above special operation. On June 6, Machalikashvili's relatives sent a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Medico Margoshvili, Temirlan's mother, said that they plan to finalize the collection of signatures by September. The family hopes that the commission will prove Temirlan's non-involvement in terrorists, the "Rustavi-2" TV Channel reports.

Sandra Roelofs, the wife of the ex-Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, said that the United National Movement (UNM) Party will help the Machalikashvili family to collect 100,000 signatures, the Channel One of the Georgian Television has reported.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Dzadzagua, the chief specialist of the Parliament's legal committee, has noted that the signatures collected to the petition will have no legal force.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 12, 2019 at 08:24 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Inna Kukudjanova

Source: CK correspondent