Killed Terrorism Suspect’s Family Ready to Address European Court
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, March 5
(PANKISI, Georgia) - The family of the deceased terrorism suspect Temirlan Machalikashvili says that the part of the documents have been prepared to be sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), as they have “no high expectations” for the investigation by the Georgian law enforcement agencies.
Malkhaz Machalikashvili, father of 19-year-old Temirlan Machalikashvili who received a mortal wound during the December 26 anti-terrorist raid in Georgia’s Muslim-populated Pankisi gorge, stated about an four hour after the meeting organized by an NGO in the gorge.
"There was nothing new for me at the meeting. They [the NGO representatives] spoke about the new details for Pankisi people, that there are certain shortcomings in the process of investigation. The law enforcers made a mistake during the raid and they will not be able to hide that. We will speak further in the European Court,” Machalikashvili stated after the meeting organized by the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre in Pankisi, which was closed to the local media.
Machalikashvili strongly believes that his son was mistakenly shot by a special unit serviceman and that now he aims to “remove the terrorist’s label” from his son.
He also demands “tough punishment” for the State Security Service officials, who planned the operation in Pankisi Gorge.
Temirlan Machalikashvili died on January 10, 2018 from the severe head injury he received during the December raid.
The Pankisi raid came after the large-scale anti-terrorist operation in Tbilisi on November 21-22, which saw Islamic State terrorist Ahmed Chatayev and his two accomplices killed and one detained.
Georgia’s State Security Service claims Chatayev and his group planned attacks on diplomats in Turkey and Georgia.
The December raid in Pankisi aimed at detaining the people who supported Chatayev to come to Georgia, buy weapons and find an accommodation, security officials stated.
During the Pankisi raid Machalikashvili was wounded and four others were detained for alleged support for terrorism, envisaging 17-20 years in prison or life imprisonment.
Investigation is underway to clear out how Machalikashvili was killed.
