Lawyer of Municipal Assembly member, who is accused of sexual assault, invites the victim to debate
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Wednesday, October 16
Mariam Kublashvili, a lawyer of the Member of Tbilisi City Municipal Assembly, Ilia Jishkariani, who was accused of sexual assault and violence, invites Tamta Todadze and her lawyer to participate in a debate with her.
“At the end of the day, to address so many misunderstandings and chaos, I’m asking Nika Gvaramia to give me an opportunity of inviting Tamta Todadze and her lawyer for a debate in his program at the Main Channel. The format should be live, without any editing, I'm ready for an open and straightforward conversation, answering any questions! I choose Gvaramia because he is a qualified lawyer and journalist. It is much more comfortable to answer his bitter and even biased questions than explaining why the question is not relevant,” wrote Kublashvili on her Facebook.
As she noted, if Todadze agrees, she is not going to talk with her “with a legal language. I have simple questions. In her testimony, she says that there was no attempt of rape, she excludes it explicitly and speaks of other violence and beatings. I will ask in more detail what happened and how to explain what it means to be sexually abused.”
According to Tamar Lukava, the lawyer of Todadze, “we are not politicians. We are not involved in the election campaign. We are advocates for the gravest criminal case and it is unthinkable, after such a grave crime, to ask the victim to come out and answer the questions of the defendant's lawyer.”
According to Lukava, Tamta Todadze will answer all the questions at the court hearing.
“The procedural law itself states that the victim is questioned only once at the trial and gives full information to the defendant at the court hearing. We do not agree to be invited to any debate. We can respond to Mariam Kublashvili by saying that Tamta will answer her questions at the trial. "
On October 15, defense addressed the Prosecutor's Office to conduct additional investigative actions. According to Lukava, they demand that the Prosecutor's Office question all those who were in the house of Todadze on September 30, including police officers and other officials.
As for Todadze, as Lukava said with Radio Liberty, her psychological-emotional state has worsened during the last three days.
“A multidisciplinary team of psychologists have been working with her daily for one week. Her emotional state has changed because of the unimaginable allegations from the other side, which has a huge influence on Todadze,” noted Lukava.
Jishkariani, accused of sexual abuse and violence, left the New Hospital clinic on October 13 after a nine-day treatment. He continues his treatment at home this time.
Many people came forward to support Todadze, including certain members of the ruling team; while others accused her of being a liar. Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said it would be impossible to commit such a crime for the man he has known for several years and knows the “life he lives.”
The Public Defender of Georgia issued a special statement, noting that the Office will monitor the progress of the investigation and will communicate closely with the alleged victim and her lawyers.
Jishkariani was charged under Article 138, part 2 A sub-clause, which entails a violent act of a sexual nature committed by abusing one’s official position; and Article 126 part 1 (regular beating or other violence that has caused the victim physical or mental pains, but did not entail intentional serious damage to health or less grave bodily injury that is not dangerous for life) of the Criminal Code of Georgia.
