Statement of the Special Investigation Service regarding the Goga Razmadze Case

We would like to clarify the report, related to the individual actions of the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, submitted by Goga Razmadze to the Special Investigation Service.

Goga Razmadze was summoned to the Special Investigation Service to respond to the received statement. He visited the service with a lawyer but refused to make explanations and participate in the interview.

The applicant refused to cooperate with the investigation when the circumstances mentioned in the statement required clarification. The Service was guided by the presented content of the statement and did not launch the investigation due to the absence of signs of crime.

Since the statement contained signs of possible unethical and disciplinary misconduct by individual employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs towards Goga Razmadze, as part of the disciplinary proceedings, not a crime, the statement was sent to the head of the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is the only legal authorized institution to investigate possible unethical and disciplinary misconduct of the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In the absence of signs of crime, sending the application to the General Inspection for investigation of disciplinary misconduct is provided by the legislation. This rule has been followed by the investigation service since 2019. In particular, the State Inspector Service forwarded 191 correspondences to the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for response in 2021. The Special Investigation Service sent 179 correspondences to the same department in 2022.

Regarding the interview with the applicant, it’s an accepted practice, and this process is not covered by any other action except the interview with the applicant. The interview with the applicant serves the legal purposes that in a reasonable time, the investigator can correctly assess the possible crime and correctly determine the qualification and jurisdiction of the investigation.

Based on the mentioned legal objectives, the practice of interviewing the applicant has been used by the State Inspector Service for years and by the Special Investigation Service within reasonable frames. For more clarity and visibility, the State Inspector Service interviewed 2,157 alleged victims in 2020 and 2,650 alleged victims in 2021, before the investigation. In 2022, the Special Investigation Service interviewed 1,623 alleged victims of ill-treatment/misconduct.

It's known that the Special Investigation Service implements important projects to establish an effective cooperation mechanism with the alleged victims and ensure the involvement of the victims in the investigation process. From the first day of investigation, criminal case materials are available for familiarizing and the use of special protection measures is also offered to the victims.