23:55, 5 February 2019

Relatives of young men killed in special operation in Georgia lose trial to law enforcers

A solidarity action. Activists are holding posters saying (from left to right), "Solidarity with Temirlan's family", "Stop using Pankisi for political purposes", "Solidarity with Pankisi". Tbilisi, January 11, 2018. Photo by Inna Kukudjanova for the "Caucasian Knot"

A Tbilisi court has refused to find that the State Security Service (SSS) had violated the presumption of innocence, by stating the involvement of Temirlan Machalikashvili, killed in a special operation in Pankisi, in extremism.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July, 2018, Georgian media reported, referring to the SSS, that Machalikashvili had links with Akhmed Chataev and that Temirlan had planned to commit a self-explosion in Tbilisi. The young man's family had accused law enforcers of violating the presumption of innocence.

The Machalikashvili family demands to set up a commission in the parliament to study the circumstances of Temirlan's death. Residents of the Pankisi Gorge have already collected 2000 signatures to the petition with this demand.

The 19-year-old Temirlan Machalikashvili was mortally wounded in his house during a special operation in the Pankisi Gorge on December 26, 2017. According to law enforcers, he tried to throw a grenade at them. However, his relatives assert that the young man was shot dead in his bed. On December 26, 2018, a year after his death, the participants of the actions demanded to hold an objective inquiry into his death.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 5, 2019 at 04:26 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Inna Kukudjanova

Source: CK correspondent