MPs reject the creation of a fact-finding commission for Machalikashvili's case
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, May 31
The majority MPs rejected an initiative of establishing a fact-finding commission over the murder case of a 19-year-old Temirlan Machalikashvili who was deadly shot by a special unit serviceman during the anti-terrorist raid in Georgia's Muslim-populated Pankisi Gorge in 2017.
Only 30 lawmakers voted for the resolution drafted by the National Movement faction, while three members of the parliament voted against it. The project needed the support of at least 50 MPs.
The initiative underlined there are some unanswered questions regarding the case investigation and there was the need for establishing a parliamentary fact-finding commission that would study all the case details.
All the MPs who supported the creation of a parliamentary investigative commission into the case of Machalikashvili, are in opposition. None of the members of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party supported the initiative.
The parliamentarians who voted against are GD MPs: Akaki Zoidze, Kakha Kuchava, and Sulkhan Makhatadze.
Most members of the ruling party have refrained from participating in the voting process; however, the member of the Alliance of Patriots Emzar Kvitsiani supported the initiative.
Kvitsiani stressed that by failing the initiative, the MPs "admitted the guilt before the family of Machalikashvili."
Opposition parties United National Movement (UNM) and the European Georgia slammed the majority for not passing the draft.
The UNM member Nika Melia said the action of the ruling party was
"shameful" while Salome Samadashvili underlined by rejecting the initiative they "rejected the possibility to learn the truth."
"You refused today to find out the truth why a young man was shot while sleeping in his home. With this responsibility, you will have to continue your political activities," Samadashvili stressed.
Malkhaz Machalikashvili, the father of the killed teenager, says the ruling party "got scared of the truth."
"The government was afraid that the society would learn the truth about this case," he said.
The man thanked the UNM and the European Georgia for the support and vowed to fight until the truth is revealed.
Temirlan Machalikashvili died on January 10, 2018, from the severe head injury he received in the December 26 raid.
The State Security Service says that Machalikashvili had a hand grenade.
The Pankisi raid came after the large-scale anti-terrorist operation in Tbilisi on November 21-22 2017, which saw Islamic State terrorist Achmed 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 deadly shot and four others were detained for alleged support for terrorism.
The Machalikashvili family says that the Security Service rushed in a wrong house and a special unit serviceman could not differentiate a mobile phone from a hand grenade.
They state that the deceased is a victim with no links to terrorism, and all who planned and executed the raid must be held accountable.
