Investigators refuse to open criminal case on Giorgi Kavelidze's death

An investigator in the city of Kropotkin (Krasnodar Territory) has refused to initiate a criminal case into the death of Giorgi Kavelidze, a resident of the territory, whose relatives claim that he died after being beaten by law enforcers, the "Team against Torture"* has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in October 2021, Giorgi Kavelidze's mother claimed that her son had died after being tortured after detention. Giorgi fell into a coma and died after he was released by law enforcers. He claimed that he had been beaten up to force him to confess to the murder, human rights defenders reported then. In their turn, law enforcers objected stating that Kavelidze had an epileptic attack and died at hospital.

An investigator from the Kropotkin Investigating Division twice refused to open a criminal case over the death of Giorgi Kavelidze, the "Team against Torture"* announced on September 16.

According to Anna Kotsareva, a team's lawyer, Giorgi's relatives claim that he had no epilepsy, but law enforcers keep asserting he received traumas from two epileptic attacks. After the first one, as law enforcers assert, they took him to court, where an administrative fine was imposed on him for petty hooliganism, and then he was again taken to the police division, where he again felt bad.

The investigator had appointed a forensic medical examination, from which it follows that the doctors who visited Kavelidze twice should have hospitalized him, but they did not do it; however, medical experts found no violations in doctors' actions.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 17, 2022 at 03:54 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.