Murder puts spotlight on Georgia's interior ministry

Molly Corso 3/09/06

A murder case that involves senior interior ministry officials is firing controversy about the Georgian government's respect for the rule of law, with the interior ministry struggling to show that favoritism does not characterize its handling of the investigation.

Sandro Girgvliani, the 28-year-old head of the international relations department of the United Georgian Bank, was found beaten to death on January 27, near a cemetery on the outskirts of Tbilisi. Local media reported that his body was found the morning after an alleged altercation in a Tbilisi cafe with senior interior ministry officials. After leaving the cafe, Girgvliani and a friend were reportedly kidnapped by unknown assailants who drove the pair out of town and brutally beat them. Girgvliani's friend managed to escape.

On March 8, four interior ministry employees were arraigned on murder charges in connection with Girgvliani's death: Gia Alania, chief of the first unit of the ministry's department of constitutional security, and three of his subordinates, Avtandil Aptsiauri, Aleksandre Gachava and Mikheil Bibiluri. The four men have been sentenced to two months of pretrial detention.

In the face of calls from the opposition and Girgvliani family for his resignation, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and his political allies have praised the arrests as proof that no government official is above the law. President Mikheil Saakashvili has spoken out in Merabishvili's defense, calling him a "good" minister.

"The most important thing is that in Georgia we are creating a fair government, a country where no one is untouchable, where no one can escape punishment and where everyone takes responsibility for everything," Saakashvili was quoted as saying March 1 on the Imedi television channel.

Merabishvili has stated that the arrests signal that the murder case is now "solved" and can be transferred from the interior ministry to the general prosecutor's office for further investigation.

The case touches on sensitive territory for the Saakashvili administration, which has waged an aggressive campaign over the past two years to overhaul Georgia's interior ministry, once notorious for its corruption.

However, members of the opposition accuse the minister of covering for higher ranking officials who they claim are connected to the crime. According to a February 12 investigative report by Imedi television's Droeba news magazine, Girgvliani argued at the cafe with several senior ministry officials, including Data Akhalaia, chief of the department of constitutional security; his deputy, Oleg Melnikov; Vasil Sanodze, chief of the ministry's general inspectorate; and then ministry spokesperson Guram Donadze. Tako Salaqaia, Merabishvili's wife, was also present at the cafe with the officials from the ministry.

According to Tina Khidasheli, a leader of the opposition Republican Party, the fact that none of these officials is being investigated as possible suspects is "symptomatic" of larger problems at the ministry.

Speaking with EurasiaNet the day after the arrests of the four other officials on murder charges, Khidasheli noted that while the detention of the men was a step in the right direction if they are guilty of murder, it is not enough. "We still have concerns," she said of the Republican Party. "What we heard yesterday [March 6] is not even close to what society is waiting for."

Erekle Glurjidze, a staff attorney for the criminal law program at the American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative Georgia office, believes the case will be a test for Georgia's commitment to the rule of law. "I think the [legal] reforms are going in the right direction but ... in certain cases, we can see where it [the law] does not apply equally to everyone. Or it might even apply equally to everyone, but in that case the direction is not so transparent – or the investigation is not so transparent – as in other cases," he said.

"They [the authorities] need to know that if they don't make it [the legal process] transparent, the public will hold them accountable for it," Glurjidze added.

But while Merabishvili and the government have treated the arrests as a success, members of the opposition state the detentions are just the beginning. Several opposition parties, including the Republicans, the New Rights, Labor and Conservative Parties, have formed a coalition to investigate cases they believe are ignored by the ruling party. They are now calling for Merabishvili's resignation.

According to Koba Davitashvili, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, justice will not be done until at least constitutional security department chief Dato Akhalaia, the boss of the four detained men, takes some responsibility for the crime. "As a minimum, the head of the department overseeing these four [arrested] men should resign even if he was not involved," Davitashvili told EurasiaNet. "Politically, he should take responsibility that a band of killers existed within his staff. Without his resignation the case should not be closed."

One of the four officials present during the cafe argument with Girgvliani, Guram Donadze, has been dismissed from his position as ministry spokesperson. On March 6, Merabishvili announced he had fired Donadze for his "conflicts" with the media.

Khidasheli noted that while it is possible the four men arrested beat Girgvliani to death, they had no reason to kill him. According to her, they did not even know Girgvliani prior to the incident, indicating that the murder was ordered by someone else.

Levan Bukhaidze, the friend who was reportedly kidnapped with Girgvliani but managed to escape, denies reports that either Girgvliani or he had any argument with any of the men accused of the murder. In a videotaped confession broadcast on television news programs, suspect Gia Alania states that he and the victim began arguing after Girgvliani had insulted Donadze at the cafe.

Irine Enukidze, the victim's mother, is also demanding the arrest of Alania and other officials.

While answering questions in parliament last week about his handling of the murder investigation, Merabishvili stated that he would "do everything in my power" to solve the case, short of bending to opposition demands to arrest or dismiss Akhalaia, Melnikov and Sanodze. "None of these employees can be considered suspects, as based on the material we have gathered we cannot suspect them of guilt and question their involvement," he said, speaking to reporters after the February 28 parliamentary session.

Despite the outside criticism, support for the embattled minister from the ruling National Movement Party appears strong. During a March 7 news conference, Maia Nadiradze, leader of the party's parliamentary faction, called the ministry a "foundation" for the country. Other majoritarian MPs also praised Merabishvili's work, pointing to a recent arrest made in the four-year-old investigation into the murder of Nika Lominadze, financial manager at AES Telasi, an American-run electricity distribution company. Giorgi Gvichiani, the head of Tbilgazi, the capital's gas distribution company, was arrested on March 7 for ordering Lominadze's killing while working as the commercial manager at AES Telasi in 2002. He has denied the charges.

But the show of support has done little to dissuade the opposition. Khidasheli said the leadership of the Republican Party is prepared to fight the government over the Girgvliani investigation until the party perceives that justice has been done. "We will keep this issue alive," she said.

Editor's Note: Molly Corso is a freelance reporter and photographer based in Tbilisi. Kakha Jibladze contributed reporting to this story.

Posted March 9, 2006 © Eurasianet