As it is known, on 4 November 2017, Amiran Kvirikashvili, 30, residing in the town of Kharagauli, committed suicide. Several days earlier, he was "interrogated" by the local police and forced to admit to unclear criminal offences. We, the undersigned organizations, would like to express our opinion with regard to the investigation of the case of Amiran Kvirikashvili's suicide conducted by the Kutaisi District Prosecutor's Office based on Article 115 (incitement to suicide) and Paragraphs "a" and "b" of Part 2 of Article 144³ (inhumane and degrading treatment by an official or a person of equal status as a result of abuse of their powers) of the Criminal Code.

Amiran Kvirikashvili's father became an assignee of the victim in the case of the likely incitement to suicide and degrading treatment of Amiran Kvirikashvili. The brother of the deceased, Archil Kvirikashvili, was also assigned the status of an injured party in the same case. According to Archil Kvirikashvili, the local police, resorting to verbal and physical abuse, were trying to force him to admit to some unsolved theft crimes on the same day that the deceased Amiran Kvirikashvili was questioned by the police.

At this stage of the investigation, the legal basis for bringing the Kvirikashvili brothers to the local police station and keeping them there for several hours remains unclear. According to the materials of the case, the police officers did not have legitimate grounds for questioning Amiran and Archil Kvirikashvili, which aggravates the police officers' culpability in this case. It should also be noted that this incident has once again highlighted the problematic practice of the police questioning citizens informally.

The District Prosecutor's Office of Western Georgia took this criminal case under its supervision on 9 November, five days after the suicide. Prior to that, the investigation was being conducted by the District Division of Internal Affairs of the town of Kharagauli. Despite the fact that it was known since the very day of Kvirikashvili's suicide that his family and friends linked his death to his "interrogation" by the local police – which rendered the local police incompetent to investigate it –the investigation was nevertheless conducted by the [District Division of] Internal Affairs for five days, thus hampering a timely and efficient investigation of this case.

It was clear from the outset that the Kharagauli Police were an interested party in this case. The process of the investigation they conducted during the five days confirms this as well. During this time, the Kharagauli Police were working on a specific, police-favouring version of the suicide, according to which Amiran Kvirikashvili's decision to commit suicide was explained by his health problems and economic hardship. In order to support this version, rather than questioning Kvirikashvili's family members and friends who could provide important information pertaining to the case, during the five-day investigation, the police questioned other, irrelevant persons. The investigation of the case that the police conducted for several days also entailed a risk of falsifying evidence related to the summoning of the Kvirikashvili brothers to the police. It is also problematic that the police officers who, in all likelihood, participated in exerting pressure on Amiran and Archil Kvirikashvili and, at the same time, were trying to devise a police-favouring version of the suicide case and obstruct the investigation for several days, continue working at the Kharagauli Police Division.

Within the framework of the investigative measures carried out by the Prosecutor's Office, at this point, the recordings of the video cameras installed on the territory adjacent to the building of the police station and at the building entrance have been obtained from the Kharagauli Police. These only show the movement at the entrance and along the outside perimeter. It is a problem that, due to the absence of any other video cameras in the building, no footage of events unfolding in other areas of the Police Division is available to the investigation. This case, too, shows how important it is to have video surveillance inside the police stations.

We, the undersigned organizations, continue monitoring the process of investigation and call on:

• The District Prosecutors Office of Western Georgia – to conduct the investigation promptly and, in the event of existence of relevant evidence, to raise the issue of responsibility of the police officers of the District Division of Internal Affairs of Kharagauli;
• The Ministry of Internal Affairs – to carry out disciplinary measures and dismiss local police officers who intentionally tried to obstruct an objective and timely investigation of the case;
• Parliament of Georgia and the Government of Georgia – to promptly create in the country an independent investigative mechanism to minimize the problem of arbitrariness and impunity of police officers in Georgia.

Human Rights and Monitoring Centre (EMC)

Transparency International Georgia

Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)

Human Rights Centre

Institute for Democracy and Safe Development (IDSD)

Article 42 of the Constitution

White Noise Movement