Father of Killed Teenager Charged with Attack on Police
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, October 29
Zaza Saralidze, the father of one of the teenagers murdered in Tbilisi last December, has been charged with the attack on police officers, - Saralidze’s lawyer Nestan Londaridze stated on Sunday.
Saralidze was detained on Friday as he attacked policemen with a metal stick as the latter did not allow him open tents in front of Tbilisi parliament building.
Police claimed that the tents could block the entrance to the building, while the Georgian public defender says Saralidze had the right to open the tents and express his protest freely.
Saralidze, who have been demanding a fair investigation into his son’s murder in central Tbilisi, is also demanding the change of the government as “official strictures are hiding the case details and protecting the killer.”
“Saralidze is in the hospital now [as he had high blood pressure after the detention]. The custodial measure has been revoked until the trial, which will presumably be held on 29 October,” Londaridze said.
The opposition called “cynical” to the detention and demanded an immediate removal of the charge.
Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili says that Saralidze has verbally offended policemen many times and taking his condition and trauma [death of the son] into account, he has not been detained or charged.
“This time his action exceeded all limits and we were forced to detain him,” Mezvrishvili said.
Two 16-year-old boys were killed in central Tbilisi in December 2017, David Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili.
The court verdict failed to identify the actual killer of 16-year-old Saralidze who died from multiple knife wounds, his father Zaza Saralidze started a protest rally at the end of May demanding the government hold accountable the actual killers. He also named a 16-year-old Mikheil Kalandia as an alleged killer, “ who was protected by the high-ranking official of the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office Mirza Subeliani.”
Subeliani resigned after several hours from the murder and was detained after several months for failing to report the crime. He admits the charge.
The rallies by Saralidze led to the resignation of former Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze on May 31, 2018.
The Interior Ministry says that the case is being investigated. However, Saralidze says that he no longer believes in the fair investigation under the current state leadership.
