The Internal Security Department of Abkhazia’s Interior Ministry has opened an internal investigation into the alleged use of physical force against a passenger of a civilian vehicle during a traffic stop, the ministry’s press service has reported.
Close to midnight on 26 January, a vehicle headed towards Sukhumi (Sukhum) failed to heed commands from police to stop, but ultimately pulled over once entering the city.
‘During the arrest, one of the passengers sustained bodily injuries to the face from [police] officer Michba’, the ministry said, only identifying the officer by their surname. The victim has been hospitalised with a fractured skull.
Interior Minister Robert Kiut has ordered the investigation be sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office, but Michba has already been suspended pending the results.
All official details about the case have been shared by the Interior Ministry, but eyewitnesses have claimed there is more to the story, alleging that Kiut allowed the relatives of the beaten citizen to take revenge on the police officers responsible.
Reportedly, a fight broke out between relatives of the victim and police on the grounds of the Republican Hospital, where the individual was being treated.
According to an eyewitness, Kiut reportedly said, ‘Deal with them yourselves, I won’t interfere’.
Apparently, the officers themselves took offence at Kiut’s suggestion, causing them to go public with the information.
There are rumours, however, that the fracas at the hospital may have been connected to a different beating, in which police mistook civilians for drug dealers and assaulted them. Telegram channels have said that Michba was involved in this incident as well.
For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.
Lela Jobava
