‘Don’t Kill Me’-Hundreds Rally in Tbilisi Demanding Fair Investigation
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, May 29
(TBILISI) - Hundreds of People gathered on Rustaveli Avenue, in front of Georgia’s Parliament building in central Tbilisi late on Saturday to demand the transparent investigation over the notorious case of murder of two teenage boys in December last year.
The father of one of the deceased Zaza Saralidze appealed to people prior to the rally to stand by him to establish the truth and prevent such fatalities.
The slogan of the rally was “Do not kill me,” as Saralidze and the people gathered believed injustice could lead to new tragedies.
Despite the fact two teenagers have been charged for premeditated murder and three others for not informing about the crime, Saralidze says that one of the killers still walks free as “he is a relative of a law enforcer.”
He claims that Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office and Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze are trying to avoid a punishment for the alleged murderer.
“We are demanding fair and transparent investigation and answers on all our questions,” Saralidze stated during the rally.
The protesters also demanded tough punishment of the prosecutors “who fabricated the case materials.”
Otherwise they vowed permanent and more large-scale rallies.
Members of the opposition United National Movement, accusing the government of biased judiciary, also arrived at the rally.
However, Saralidze refused to allow them to make speeches at the rally and said that he did not wish to see the involvement of politics in the “very sensitive issue.”
A speech was delivered by Temirlan Machalikashvili, whose son received a deadly shot by a special unit serviceman during the counter-terrorism rally on December 26 last year.
Machalikashvili is demanding a fair investigation, as he believes that his son was shot mistakenly.
“I am standing by you, as I am a father, I am a father of a killed young man,” Machalikashvili said.
Two 16-year-old boys, David Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili, were stabbed to death in a school brawl in Tbilisi on December 1, 2017.
The Prosecutor’s Office charged two teenagers with premeditated murder of an underage person, and three others for not reporting the crime.
Saralidze died in a hospital due to multiple wounds in his back, while Dadunashvili died on spot.
One of the charged teenagers was detained on December 2, while the other one, who had gone into hiding, surrendered on December 4.
Mirza Subeliani, who served as a deputy head of the Prosecutor’s Office Human Resources Department, is a father of one of the brawl participant teenage boys.
Subeliani quit his post shortly after the murder, on December 4.
However, Saralidze claims that the man creates serious obstacles for the case investigation.
Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze posted on Facebook about the rally, said that he “fully shares the sorrow” of Saralidze and is waiting forward to the conclusion of investigation on the case.
However, Kaladze said that the involvement of the United National Movement members in the rally, “of the party which killed and tortured innocent people”, was unacceptable for him.
