State inspector points at problems in school, not only in police, as cause behind death of minor
A newly created independent agency is investigating the death of a 15-year-old minor in Tbilisi.
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The Georgian State Inspector’s Office, a newly created independent agency investigating alleged offences committed by law enforcers, has pointed at possible problems at a school, not only at a police station which could have pushed a 15-year-old minor to commit suicide last week.
Situations, which could not have been acceptable or desirable for a child have been revealed at a school. Such situations also took place at a police station,” head of the agency Londa Toloraia told the media after her meeting with the head of parliament's Human Rights Committee earlier today.
The family of 15-year-old Luka Siradze, who died yesterday at a hospital due to injuries he received after attempting suicide on December 11, is accusing the police of exercising psychological pressure on the minor “to make him admit damaging a property of a private school where he studied [before moving to a public school] and writing vulgar phrases on the school wall.”
State Inspector Londa Toloraia has made comments on the case of a minor's death. Photo: fortuna.ge.
Toloraia has dismissed the reports that the case investigator Mariana Choloiani was detained only after the minor’s death.
We were waiting for collecting evidence and as soon as the evidence were present the decision was made. Choloianiwas summoned at the agency at 3 p.m. yesterday [before the death of the manor]. The investigation is in progress and everyone, whose guilt will be revealed based on evidence, will be held accountable. No question marks will remain around the case,” Toloraia said.
She stated that a wide circle of people are being interrogated, including the students of the school where Siradze studied “and we are very cautious in making statements because of the minors’ emotional condition and as that they are minors.”
The detained investigator, who is now in hospital due to health problems, does not admit to making threats against the minor at Didube-Chugureti police station.
A 15-year-old minor who may have been led to a suicide attempt by psychological pressure at Tbilisi Didube-Chugureti police station over a week ago, has died at M. Iashvili Children’s Central Hospital today.
UNICEF Georgia (United Nations Children's Emergency Fund) has called on the authorities to ensure children’s rights in the juvenile justice system, responding to the suicide attempt of a 15-year-old minor due to alleged psychological pressure at Didube-Chugureti police station last week.
Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia once again responded to the death of a minor on December 17 and stated that there is no time for politicizing tragedies as concrete, further steps must be taken for the welfare of children. “What the state does in terms of systemic reforms or the improvement of the education field, everything which is in touch with the youth must be even more effective, target-oriented and prevent such tragedies."
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has promised “very tough punishment” for those, ‘no matter their status or rank’, whose guilt will be revealed by the State Inspector’s Office in pushing 15-year-old Luka Siradze to suicide on December 11. Gakharia has expressed his “deep sorrow” over the death of Siradze, who died in Iashvili Hospital in Tbilisi early yesterday due to severe injuries he received after jumping from the ninth floor of a building.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has responded to the death of 15-year-old Luka Siradze, who jumped from the ninth floor of a building after being subjected to alleged psychological pressure at Didube police station in Tbilisi, saying that “we must make major changes to avoid such tragedies.”“The death of a 15-year-old boy is a big tragedy for the state. I share the hard moments with the family and wish them to stand strong in this very difficult time,” Zurabishvili wrote.
Didube-Chugureti police district investigator Mariana Choloiani, arrested in connection with the recent suicide of a 15-year-old minor, has been charged today for forcing him to plead guilty, says the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
The Georgian State Inspector’s Office has sent the criminal case of prosecutor Mariana Choloiani, who is charged with exercising pressure on a minor to confess, to the court for deliberation.
Investigator Mariana Choloiani, who was sentenced to three years in prison for ‘applying psychological pressure’ to 15-year-old Luka Siradze back in 2019 who later committed suicide, has been early released from prison, her lawyer Gagi Mosiashvili has confirmed.