Prosecutor’s Office addresses politically persecuted
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, January 17
The Prosecutor’s Office removed 9 men out of 25 from the red Interpol wanted list. A statement concerning the issue was made by the press service of the Prosecutor’s Office on January 16.
Through the law of amnesty, 25 individuals were recognized as persecuted on political grounds. After granting them the status of politically persecuted, they will be able to come back to the country.
“We cancelled the Interpol red notice on 9 men, but we have other types of agreements with CIS countries and they have not yet stopped searching. We call on the political refugees to refrain from returning to Georgia for a week through the CIS countries, as in such a case they might be detained,” head of the prosecutor’s press service Khatuna Paichadze said.
The names of the 9 individuals were also provided. They are Mikheil Kareli, Bidzina Giorgobiani, Jemal Karkusov, Giorgi Kadagishvili, Levan Pkhakadze, Guram Goguadze, Melik Raisiani, Iia Ramishvili and Iason Chikhladze.
The international search for Vladimer Bedukadze was also stopped. He is the author of the scandalous video footage showing the brutal torture of inmates in Gldani N8 penitentiary.
Paichadze explained that the Prosecutor’s Office requested a stop to the international search for Bedukadze on January 15.
According to her, the reason for this was Bedukadze’s readiness to collaborate with Georgian law enforcement and assisting the investigation.
“International search for him created obstacles in this path,” Paichadze stated.
Bedukadze plans to return to Georgia on January 17. He made the statement concerning the issue for the Pirweli news agency.
“I am coming back to Georgia and I will definitely cooperate with investigators,” Bedukadze said.
A statement was also made regarding the politically persecuted Bidzina Giorgobiani who has not decided yet whether to come back to Georgia or not.
“Currently, it is difficult for me to give up everything in Germany and come back to Georgia with my family. It is not easy when you have been living in another country for years. Either this month or at the beginning of February I will arrive in Georgia for to see my relatives,” Giorgobiani said.
The Georgian minority was against granting this status to the individuals. According to them, no one has ever been persecuted on political grounds in Georgia and those who were imprisoned or left the country had committed crimes. Moreover, the opposition claims that the new Georgian government switched on the “green light” for Russian spies.
