Georgian opposition supports demands of father of Pankisi resident killed by law enforcers

The MPs from the "United National Movement" (UNM) and the "European Georgia" Parties have called for the establishment of a temporary parliamentary commission to investigate the special operation conducted in the Pankisi Gorge. The ruling "Georgian Dream" Party has promised to consider this issue.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February 2019, Malkhaz Machalikashvili, the father of Temirlan, asked the Georgian MPs to comment on the initiative to set up a commission to investigate the special operation, in which his son perished.

"The authorities are not interested in an objective inquiry into the murder," said Roman Gotsiridze, the chairman of the parliamentary faction of the oppositional UNM Party, on air of the "Rustavi-2" Georgian TV Company. In his opinion, to set up a commission is the only way to achieve results from investigators.

There is still no information about who and why had ordered to conduct the special operation, Otar Kakhidze, an MP from the oppositional "European Georgia" Party, has noted.

Let us note here that in July 2018, mass media reported, referring to the Georgian State Security Service (SSS), that Temirlan Machalikashvili had planned to commit a suicide self-detonation in Tbilisi. The Machalikashvili family then demanded to admit that the SSS had violated the presumption of innocence by declaring Temirlan to be an extremist. However, the court refused to satisfy the demand.