Rights defenders point to sudden termination of Machalikashvili's case

The Georgian Prosecutor's Office has closed the Temirlan Machalikashvili's murder case right at the moment, when investigators indicated inconsistencies in law enforcers' testimonies, the Human Rights Monitoring Centre has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 28, the PO announced the closure of the above case initiated on abuse of power by law enforcers, who had mortally wounded the 19-year-old Temirlan Machalikashvili in Pankisi. The young man failed to obey the special fighter, who demanded to show his hands, and tried to detonate a grenade, the Georgian PO has stated.

The Centre for Education and Human Rights Monitoring (CEHRM) has criticized the PO's decision. "The termination of the inquiry into Temirlan Machalikashvili's murder case is unjustified and is another confirmation of the politicization of the prosecution," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has translated the CEHRM's statement.

The Centre has noted that they had not expected the termination of the inquiry at this stage. "This decision was unexpected now, when we, as advocates for the Machalikashvili family, have revealed numerous inconsistencies in testimonies of law enforcers and other employees of the State Security Service (SSS)," rights defenders have stated.

In his turn, Malkhaz Machalikashvili, Temirlan's father, insists that law enforcers had shot his son dead by mistake. "In order to hide this crime, law enforcers brought a grenade into my son's bedroom, and accused him of rendering resistance to riot police agents," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has translated Malkhaz Machalikashvili's words pronounced at a briefing on January 28.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 29, 2020 at 06:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.