Burjanadze dissatisfied with decision on Akhalaia case
By Nazrin Gadimova
Former Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze will first raise the issue of impeachment of the Georgian Supreme Court's Chairman if she becomes the president.
According to Burjanadze, the sentence on Bacho Akhalaia and other persons on this case proves that the court is still under control of Chairman of the Supreme Court Kote Kublashvili and the United National Movement.
"The government ought to fulfill its promises immediately after coming to power," Burjanadze said. "It means the restoration of justice, including the change of the judicial power. Georgian Dream has a sufficient majority to launch impeachment against the Chairman of the Supreme Court, because all those unjust sentences issued in recent years were approved by the Supreme Court headed by Kote Kublashvili."
On August 1, Tbilisi City Court dropped the charges of inhumane treatment and unlawful imprisonment against former Georgian Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia
The court acquitted the other defendants under this case, including former Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Giorgi Kalandadze and Fourth Brigade commander of the Defense Ministry Zurab Shamatava.
The charges were made due to an incident that occurred in October 2011, when, according to the prosecutors, Minister Bacho Akhalaia, in the presence of Giorgi Kalandadze and Zurab Shamatava, reportedly insulted six soldiers verbally and physically in his office. Then the servicemen were transferred to the Vaziani military base where the Georgian Defense Ministry's fourth brigade was based. They are said to face abuse there as well.
The Tbilisi City Court cancelled the preliminary detention of Akhalia on one more incident relating to the case, which concerned what was reported as coercion of a citizen to donate an expensive car to the Georgian Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance.
Akhalaia remains in detention despite the acquittal, because there are also allegations regarding the case of a prison riot in 2006 and abuse of staff of the Georgian Interior Ministry's special forces.