Georgia: Murder case verdict stirs controversy

Paul Rimple 7/07/06

The verdict is in for a controversial murder case that involves several officials from Georgia's Interior Ministry, but the political fall-out could be long in coming for the government, with one minister charging that the trial was not legitimate.

On July 6, Gia Alania, former head of the first unit of the Interior Ministry's Department for Constitutional Security (DCS), was sentenced to eight years in prison for inflicting injuries that resulted in the death of Sandro Girgvliani, head of the international relations department for United Georgian Bank. Avtandil Aptsiauri, Aleksander Gachava and Mikheil Bibiluri, also from the DCS, were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on the same charge.

The case has been highly politicized since early February, when a television news magazine report alleged that four top-level Interior Ministry officials may have ordered Girgvliani's January 27 murder in response to a spat they had with the banker at a downtown Tbilisi cafe. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Opposition party leaders have demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili in connection with the killing.

But with the verdicts has come no sense of closure. Mayhem and fistfights broke out in Tbilisi City Court chambers following the verdicts' announcement as opposition party members and relatives of the victim clashed with court officials. Meanwhile, 200-300 protesters rallied outside the court to condemn what they believe was a biased trial that let the true perpetrators go unpunished. The protests continued on July 7 outside of Tbilisi State University.

Reactions within the government could also prove divergent. In a July 7 interview with EurasiaNet, Minister of Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava, who was present at the trial, commented that the court process was clearly not open and that the trial's results have no basis in reality.

"When you look at the facts, the murder was clearly an order. The men convicted didn't even know Girgvliani from Bukhaidze," Khaindrava said, referring to Levan Bukhaidze, a friend of Girgvliani who was kidnapped and beaten along with the banker, but managed to escape. "This process won't end soon and it is going to be very painful.... When the president gets back he will have to look into this." Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili just concluded an official visit to the White House.

The controversy also touches on Georgia's largest non-state television broadcaster, Rustavi-2, seen as a strong government supporter. During a live July 6 broadcast, Eka Khoperia, anchor of the popular political talk show Tavisupali Tema (Free Theme), announced her resignation in response to alleged attempts by the authorities to impose editorial control over her program. Khoperia claimed that she had been told that Dato Akhalia, one of the Interior Ministry officials present at the café the night of Girgvliani's murder, could appear on the show only if he were the last guest of the evening. Addressing viewers, Khoperia termed the request "unacceptable," and called for Merabishvili's resignation in response to the murder.

Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli has since denied that the government pressured Rustavi-2 in connection with the Girgvliani case. At a July 7 press conference, Rustavi-2 General Director Nika Tabatadze described Khoperia's charges as "very strange and surprising," and described the Interior Ministry's request as part of "a normal process."

Testimony by Girgvliani's friend, Bukhaidze, promises to raise further questions about the case and the government's response. On July 5, Bukhaidze testified that Bibiluri, one of the four men convicted for the murder, had not been at the site of the beating. Instead, Bukhaidze has identified Oleg Melnikov, an ex-Interior Ministry official, as among the four people who brutally beat him and Girgvliani in Okrokana, on the outskirts of Tbilisi. Girgvliani's body was later found near a local cemetery.

Melnikov's role had been questioned since news broke out in February that the Interior Ministry might be involved in Girgvliani's death. Witnesses testify that Melnikov was in the same Tbilisi café when Girgvliani and Bukharidze entered and chastised a female friend for sitting with several Interior Ministry officials, and the wife of Interior Minister Merabishvili. Melinikov testified that, after Girgvliani and Bukhaidze left the café, he went to buy cigarettes for Merabishvili's wife and returned within half an hour. Girgvliani family lawyer, Shalva Shavgulidze, however, alleges that Melnikov left the café "to punish" the banker for insulting Interior Ministry spokesperson Guram Donadze, one of the officials present.

Bukhaidze, however, earlier failed to positively identify Melnikov in a photograph and in a police line-up held not long after the four Interior Ministry officials convicted were arrested.

Tbilisi Chief Prosecutor Giorgi Gviniashvili told press on July 5 that Bukhaidze's new testimony is not grounds for re-investigating the entire case, although he stated that the testimony will be examined.

The Girgvliani family has filed an appeal based on the testimony. Judge Giorgi Chemia earlier turned down a motion for the verdicts to be postponed in consideration of Bukhaidze's testimony. Shavgulidze claims that the prosecutor's office, eager to end the trial, dictated the decision.

"The courts in Georgia work slowly, it takes months before a case ever gets to court," Shavgulidze said. "But here, the judge opened the case after only five days of investigation, putting his other open cases on the side. The Girgvliani case set an unheard-of precedent in Georgia as it was closed after only five court sessions."

The government has dismissed all allegations of special treatment in their handling of the case, but Shavgulidze maintains that the Girgvliani legal battle will continue. "We got the executioners, but not who ordered it because the people who called those killers were the ones sitting in that bar," he said.

Editor's Note: Paul Rimple is a freelance journalist based in Tbilisi.

Posted July 7, 2006 © Eurasianet