Billing manager of Energo-Pro Georgia, Lasha Kilasonia, has accused [1] police officers of the Tsalenjikha district division of beating and threatening him with sexual violence. The police detained Lasha Kilasonia during a special police control operation in Tsalenjikha on September 8. In a conversation with a representative of our organization, he stated that police officers had detained him in the village of Etseri without explaining the grounds of detention, and in the Tsalenjikha district police division, they had forced him to write a confession to purchasing and consumption of morphine using threats of physical violence and rape. After he had testified, the police officers took him to a place of detention and filled out the search report at a later time. On September 9, Lasha Kilasonia changed his testimony, and on September 10 the Zugdidi District Court released him on a bail of GEL 7,000.
According to Lasha Kilasonia, the police officers also physically abused Vitali Belkania, who was detained together with him and who testified that Kilasonia had morphine in his pocket when he was detained. However, Kilasonia and his lawyer have stated [1] that the morphine that is involved in this case belongs to the Tsalenjikha hospital.
Kilasonia has also explained that he wasn’t searched upon detention, and, accordingly, the police didn’t recover any items. Kilasonia’s lawyer submitted a chromatographic examination report [2] to the court, which showed that Kilasonia had not been under the influence of a narcotic substance.
Kilasonia says that if the police officers of the Tsalenjikha district division are shown to him, he will be able to recognize the culprits. Lasha Kilasonia and his lawyer, Lasha Khoshtaria, have stated that they approached the General Inspection of the MIA several days ago. A representative of the MIA told [3] journalists that the General Inspection would start an inquiry into this issue in the near future.
TI Georgia calls upon the Ministry of Internal Affairs to immediately launch an investigation into the detention of and pressure on Lasha Kilasonia and to hold the culprits legally accountable.