EVIDENCE TAMPERING SCANDAL HITS GEORGIAN MINISTRY

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 001247

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL/AAE (CAMPBELL AND BARCLAY) AND EUR/ACE
(ALTMAN-WINANS)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV SNAR GG
SUBJECT: EVIDENCE TAMPERING SCANDAL HITS GEORGIAN MINISTRY
OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS

REF: 06 TBILISI 1301

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. TEFFT FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary: A top Ministry of Internal Affairs official
(MOIA) was arrested May 2 on charges of evidence tampering,
along with the deputy of the MOIA Forensics Lab and one other
police officer. Deputy General Prosecutor and National
Movement activist Nika Gvaramia downplayed the extent of
evidence tampering at the MOIA Forensic Lab, which reports
directly to Minister of the Interior Ivane Merabishvili.
Further charges of planting evidence brought by Public
Defender Sozar Subari against the MOIA head of Special
Operations Irakli Kodua on May 23rd, however, may indicate a
bigger problem. End Summary.

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Planting Evidence
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2. (C) MOIA Deputy Chief of General Inspection (Note:
Georgian Equivalent of Internal Affairs. End Note) General
Davit Kakua was arrested on May 2 on charges of fabricating
evidence in the high-profile 2002 murder of AES Telasi
Finance Director Nika Lominadze. Also arrested were the
deputy of the MOIA Forensic Lab Zaza Altunashvili and police
official Mikheil Ivanikashvili. According to a former MOIA
official familiar with the case, Kakua allegedly planted a
bullet casing on the scene and then tried to implicate,
through falsified ballistic evidence involving Altunashvili,
police officer Davit Mchedlidze. He was held for six months
and released in 2003. In May 2006, former AES Telasi
Commercial Manager Giorgi Gvichiani was sentenced to life
imprisonment for the murder of Lominadze.

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Internal Affairs or Internal Problem?
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3. (U) The arrest of MOIA Deputy Chief of General Inspection
Kakua is the second scandal to hit the MOIA General
Inspectorate. In March 2006, Chief of General Inspection
Vasil Sanodze was forced to step down--along with three other
MOIA top officials--in connection with the February 2006
murder of Sandro Girgvliani. Sanodze was never charged, and
four low-ranking MOIA officers were later convicted of the
manslaughter.


4. (C) For his part, Kakua is reputed to have a violent past.
Giorgi Chkheidze, former Deputy Procurator and now head of
the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, told poloff that
Kakua is implicated in torture, excessive use of force, and
other human rights violations. (Comment: According to former
MOIA officials, the MOIA General Inspectorate has been used
to force out politically undesirable employees with threats
of criminal charges if the employee does not resign. Former
Police Academy Rector Levon Izoriya, for example, alleged
that Sanodze told him in January 2006 that he should resign
or would face an inspection that would end with criminal
charges. He resigned and now is the Dean of Law of the
Georgian University of Social Sciences, where President
Saakashvili's mother is rector. No charges were ever filed.
End Comment).

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How widespread?
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5. (C) Deputy Prosecutor General Nika Gvaramia told INL
officer on May 16 that the situation "has changed" at the
MOIA laboratory from the time when Kakua is alleged to have
planted evidence. He added that the tainted evidence did not
play a role in the 2006 conviction of Gvichiani. (Comment:
INL Forensic Adviser Donnell Christian commented that barring
a full-blown investigation, it is too early to dub the
incident "only sins of the past." According to him, "it would
not be a large leap from tampering evidence or fabricating
evidence to expecting the people under his command to do the
same." End Comment).


6. (C) On May 23rd, however, Ombudsman Sozar Subari,
according to press reports, called for the suspension of MOIA
Special Operations Department head Irakli Kodua for alleged
involvement in torture, fabrication of evidence, and the
arrest of innocent men. According to Subari, a probe by the
Public Defender's office revealed that evidence against three
men in a February 2007 case had been "fabricated by law
enforcement agencies." (Comment: In May 2006, an INL
contact--a former state security operative-told us that Kodua
was involved in the extortion of money from business men as

well as in illegal privatizations. He could, however, provide
no concrete evidence. End Comment).

7.(C) Comment: The Ministry of Internal Affairs under
Minister Merabishvili has done much to boost salaries,
increase training, and improve equipment and facilities.
Crime is down, and police--thanks to the visionary dismissal
of all corrupt traffic police and their replacement by the
new Patrol Police--enjoy popular support. That said, per
reftel the MOIA been hesitant to tackle further structural
reform, such as the appointment of a Police Commissioner,
creation of a unified Police Department, reform of the
Criminal Police, or creation of Civilian Review Boards. We
hope these latest incidents reignite reformist tendencies in
the MOIA; bringing Kakua to justice is a good first step.


8. (C) Comment Continued: INL forensic projects are largely
conducted with the Ministry of Justice's National Forensic
Lab to achieve the highest level of independence from
prosecution and investigation. We work where possible with
the MOIA lab, but since the May 2 scandal we vet any
candidate for training with the Prosecutor General. End
Comment.
TEFFT