Parliament Chair: If policeman killed Vazagashvili it is a national shame
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, February 10
Parliament Chair Davit Usupashvili states that if an acting policeman killed Iuri Vazagashvili as claimed by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, it will be a national shame.
“If the policeman Gia Sosanashvili really detonated a bomb on Vazagashvili’s son’s grave and the Prosecutor’s Office version is confirmed by the court, it will be a national shame, as police should be focused on protection and not committing crimes,” Usupashvili said.
The Prosecutor’s Office still refrains from speaking about the motivation of the crime for Sosanashvili, who was arrested on February 8.
The Prosecutor’s Office stresses that investigators seized part of the hand grenade (the fuse handle). They then conducted an examination on this item, and it revealed traces of human DNA that matched with the DNA of Sosanashvili. The man has already been sent to pre-trial detention.
Sosanashvili denies the charges. His lawyer stresses that Sosanashvili had no motivation for killing Vazagashvili.
Iuri Vazagashvili’s family lawyer Gagi Mosiashvili rules out any personal revenge from Sosanashvili.
“He is just an executor. The investigation must reveal who stands behind the crime, and who are those who organized and ordered the crime.”
Lawyer Irma Tchkadua states that a range of investigation activities had been conducted to identify Sosanashvili.
“One of them was a call he made several minutes after the crime, he is from a close circle of Irakli Pirtskhalava, the former deputy chief of the Central Police Department, who was detained a couple of days ago for the participation in Zurab Vazagashvili’s murder case in 2006,” she said.
The Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association has appealed to the Prosecutor’s Office to inform the public about the motivation and other details of the case.
Iuri Vazagashvili was the father of Zurab Vazagashvili, who was killed by police in 2006 under very controversial circumstances and his death became one of the high profile cases that the Georgian Dream government had promised to investigate.
Iuri Vazagashvili became a victim of a grenade hidden at his son’s grave on January 20, 2015. Many linked the case to Iuri Vazagashvili’s non-stop fight to prove his son’s innocence.
