INTERPOL Issues Red Notices for People Charged for Tatunashvili Case
Based on the materials provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia on July 6, the General Secretariat of INTERPOL decided to issue a Red Notice for Davit Gurtsiev and Alik Taboev, two so-called law enforcers of the occupied South Ossetia region, charged in absentia in the Archil Tatunashvili case.
“If the mentioned persons are identified in any Interpol member states, the Georgian side will carry out all the necessary measures for their extradition and detention," Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) stated.
The Ministry added that Prosecutor's Office of Georgia has charged Davit Gurtsiev and Alik Taboev, two so-called law enforcers of the occupied Tskhinvali region, in absentia, in Archil Tutunashvili's case.
“They were charged under Part III of Article 143 (illegal deprivation of freedom) and Part II Article 25-1441 of Criminal Code of Georgia (assistance in torture, committed by a group against a detainee or other person, whose freedom is limited),” MIA stated.
The crime is punishable by 12 to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.
Tatunashvili and two other Georgian men were detained by occupant forces on February 22 and taken to a breakaway Tskhinvali detention facility. The next day, the de facto law enforcers released information about Tatunashvili’s death. The puppet regime stated he died of heart failure but later said he resisted the guards and fell down the stairs and was taken to hospital, where he died.
The de facto authorities of South Ossetia handed the body to the Georgian side only on March 20. After the autopsy, Tatunashvili was buried with military honor at Mukhatgverdi Brothers Cemetery near Tbilisi.
The complex and final forensic examination report, released by the experts’ group of the Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture "Empathy", reads that Tatunashvili was tortured using various methods, as a result of which he died.
The experts assessed that Archil Tatunashvili had more than 100 injuries on different parts of his body. The report says that these injuries were inflicted by thick, blunt objects many times to cause pain by a group of people.
By Thea Morrison
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