A man died after being hospitalized from police custody, amid allegations that the fatal outcome was caused by a beating at the police station. The Special Investigative Service launched an investigation, while police officials have denied any mistreatment.
Alan Kakitashvili, a 37-year-old employee of Tbilisi City Hall’s cleaning service, was hospitalized at dawn on June 7 after spending time in police custody, where he was taken following a late-night brawl near a restaurant in Tbilisi on June 6. Kakitashvili died in the hospital on June 9.
His colleague, Irakli Tatunashvili, who was also involved in the brawl and was detained together with Kakitashvili, said in a June 10 court hearing that he heard his friend scream “desperately” while held separately at the police station. He said the emergency services arrived twenty minutes after the scream stopped. Tatunashvili said he, too, was “brutally” treated by several police officers at the police station, allegedly to force a confession from him.
“I have never gotten that many hits in my life,” Tatunashvili said in his testimony. “They hit me everywhere.”
TV Pirveli’s journalistic investigation showed CCTV footage from the brawl. The channel’s journalists point in the footage at Kakitashvili reportedly being hit several times during the altercation, and Kakitashvili himself injuring another man. But the investigative journalists, who spoke with lawyers and individuals who saw Kakitashvili after the brawl but before his detention, argue that Kakitashvili did not sustain any significant injuries during the fight and was able to leave the scene independently, together with Tatunashvili. Tatunashvili argued the same as he testified during the court hearing, which was reviewing the brawl incident.
“Alan was bald, and he had no sign [of injury] on his head. There was no sign of a hit, bruise, or anything,” Irakli Tatunashvili told the court.
After leaving the scene, Kakitashvili and Tatunashvili reportedly took a taxi to Kakitashvili’s hometown of Gori, about 80 kilometers from Tbilisi, where police later traced them and brought them back to the capital for questioning. The police detained the two following a report from a man whom Kakitashvili allegedly stabbed with an unidentified object during the altercation, TV Pirveli reported.
Kakitashvili was admitted to Tbilisi’s First University Hospital around 6 a.m. on June 7. According to the hospital’s clinical director, Lali Turdzeladze, he was unconscious upon arrival, though the cause of his condition was unclear. Turdzeladze confirmed that Kakitashvili underwent surgery.
Medical records cited by TV Pirveli quote emergency doctors as saying the patient was under the influence of alcohol during police interrogation when he suddenly experienced nausea and lost consciousness. However, Tatunashvili’s lawyer claims there was no interrogation at all, alleging that police immediately began beating Kakitashvili and Tatunashvili.
TV Pirveli Investigation claims police refused to share CCTV footage from the police station.
Officials have denied any allegations of police abuse. Deputy Georgian Dream Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said on June 11 that Kakitashvili “turned unwell” and “lost consciousness” while in custody, without providing reasons, and claimed the injuries, including head trauma, had been sustained during the brawl.
Three individuals involved in the brawl have been detained and were charged with violence, the Prosecutor’s Office said on June 11. It also confirmed that the Special Investigative Service – a body responsible for probing official misconduct and currently being merged into the Prosecutor’s Office – has launched a criminal investigation into alleged abuse of power involving violence or the use of a weapon, under Article 33 of the Criminal Code.
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