Civil Groups Warn of Protests over High-Profile Murder Case

Relatives of murdered Sandro Girgvliani and representatives of some human rights groups have once again demanded that the Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Office interrogate those Interior Ministry officials who allegedly could have been behind this crime.

“If the authorities fail to undertake concrete measures to provide an unbiased investigation of this case, we will launch permanent protest rallies,” Irakli Kakabadze, who chairs the Equality Institute non-governmental organization, said at a news conference on May 18. The organization has already held a series of protest rallies in Tbilisi.

Data Akhalaia, chief of Department for Constitutional Security (DCS) and Vasil Sanodze, chief of the general inspection of the Interior Ministry, who were allegedly linked to the murder case, were suspended from their duties in March, pending an investigation, while one more official – Interior Ministry spokesman Guram Donadze – was sacked.

Relatives of Sandro Girgvliani, who was murdered in January, 2006, allege that these officials “ordered” the crime.

But according to the prosecutor’s office, the crime was committed as a result of “a spontaneous quarrel” between the victim and four officers of the Interior Ministry’s Department for Constitutional Security. These four suspects were arrested in March.