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Covert Recording Implicates Officials in Case-Fixing

Rustavi 2 TV, one of the two most-watched television stations in Georgia, aired on October 14 a covertly recorded audio tape of what appears to be a conversation of inmate Mirza Subeliani with the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) MP Viktor Japaridze and Davit Tsukhishvili, a former official in the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons.

Who is Mirza Subeliani?

Mirza Subeliani, a former employee of the Prosecutor’s Office, was arrested on June 9 following mass public protests over the Khorava street murder of December 2017, which left two 16-year-olds – Davit Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili – stabbed to death.

Subeliani’s son was involved in a street-fight that lead to deaths, as was his nephew, Mikheil Kalandia, the main case witness. Zaza Saralidze, the father of one of the murdered teens, claims Subeliani, as the prosecution official, was closely involved in covering up some elements of the crime. Subeliani was detained on charges of failure to report crime after thousands of Georgians have hit the streets in solidarity with Saralidze.

When was the recording made?

The audio recording, obtained from anonymous sources, appears to have been made recently, either in late September or early October, as participants refer to the Okuashvili affair, a series of allegations leveled recently against GDDG.

Why is the recording important?

Why was Subeliani speaking?

Subeliani was speaking to MP Japaridze in confidence, to act as a go-between between himself and Interior Minister Gakharia. Subeliani seemed to be discontent by the delay of his court trial and also by some statements of the officials that either do not support him, or worse, contradict his deposition.

Subeliani seemed to be particularly angered at Mikheil Shakulashvili, the teen murder case prosecutor, who in his deposition to the ad hoc Parliamentary commission created to look into the case, confirmed on July 23, that he met Subeliani shortly after the murder of Saralidze and Dadunashvili. During his own deposition one day earlier, Subeliani had denied that such meeting took place.

What was Subeliani trying to achieve?

During the conversation, Subeliani is speaking about his ability to blackmail the officials, while saying he has been so far refraining to do so for considerations of duty and honor.

He implies that he holds evidence of illegal dealings – “terabytes of data” – and warns he will publish these materials. He asks MP Japaridze to convey his discontent to Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia and accelerate the trial process.

GDDG lawmaker says tapes real, Subeliani’s points ‘not serious’

MP Viktor Japaridze confirmed that the conversation did take place and that he visited the prison cell through his MP credentials. Japaridze also noted that the points raised by Mirza Subeliani “did not seem serious,” and that he “was speaking inadequately.” Japaridze claimed he had “no reaction” to Subeliani’s requests.

Official response pending

The government officials are expected to comment today. The Prosecutor’s Office released statement yesterday, saying that an inquest was launched into illegal recording of the conversation, but did not comment on the substance of allegations.

The Subeliani tape comes after a number of covert recordings were aired by Rustavi 2, purportedly featuring conversations of Zaza Okuashvili with several persons, including with a former sports minister in the GDDG government, involving allegations of corruption, side payments to officials, and sham funding scheme for the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party.

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