Human rights defenders criticize evidence in Moris Machalikashvili's case

Testimonies of witnesses and a video from a protest action in Tbilisi do not confirm that Moris Machalikashvili attacked law enforcers, Georgian human rights defenders report.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that after the June unrest in Tbilisi in 2019, 19 people were detained and accused of using violence during the protests, including Moris Machalikashvili, a nephew of Malkhaz Machalikashvili, whose son was killed during a special operation in the Pankisi Gorge.

At a meeting held on January 14, the Tbilisi City Court questioned two witnesses in the Moris Machalikashvili's case. According to advocate Keti Chutlashvili, like witnesses for the prosecution questioned earlier, those two witnesses claimed that they had not seen Moris Machalikashvili during the protests in front of parliament.

The NGO "Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre" (EMC) released an official statement concerning the Moris Machalikashvili's case. According to the NGO's statement, the Georgian Prosecutor's Office charged Moris Machalikashvili with no explanation of his guilt.

In its statement, the EMC notes that the materials of the criminal case against Moris Machalikashvili contain a video, a policeman's report, and a survey of "potential witnesses in cases not related to the Moris Machalikashvili's case."

"The witnesses questioned by the court simply described the general situation in front of the parliament building and noted that a group of citizens used violence against them. Nevertheless, there was no evidence that Moris Machalikashvili himself participated in violent acts," the human rights defenders state.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 15, 2020 at 06:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.