‘They withdrew subutex from Eka Kherkheulidze’s house’

Former prosecutor Nana Tkhelidze was the only female given the status of political prisoner by the Parliament. She spent 2 years and 7 months in a female prison and were it not for the fact that the administration had changed in the country, she would have stayed behind the bars for 9 years. Since 1992, she held different posts at the Prosecutor’s Office. Her last job was that of supervising prosecutor of Patrol Police Investigation Department. She left her post on the basis of application in person the reason being confrontation with ex-Minister Zurab Adeishvili.
According to Tkhelidze the charge was fabricated. She is well aware of the methods according to which Prosecutor’s Office worked during Adeishvili’s times; she remembers how subutex was withdrawn from active member of National Movement Eka Kherkheulidze’s house; why wasn’t deputy Minister Tinatin Burjaliani’s brother arrested and what were the methods used by Zurab Adeishvili to have share in businesses.
Ex-prisoner Nana Tkhelidze: - My husband had won railway tender. They summoned him and demanded a share - $1.500.000. It was said straightforward that they were from Adeishvili. We decided to involve in negotiations his right-hand man Giorgi Kavlashvili. He attended the meeting in Ezukhbaia’s study and increased the sum to $2million. We told him that we would pay nothing.
Finance Police entered my husband’s work; they found no infringement but annulled the tender not even paying for the carried-out work. Adeishvili had an adopted son, head of regulatory office Giorgi Arveladze; he was tasked to control shares and thus he called us.
I filed a suit and demanded 2 million, the sum of carried-out work; I even sent a letter to the President. Finally, they arranged things so that my husband fled Georgia and I was presented with an ultimatum to withdraw the claim. I didn’t do it. I even exposed Adeishvili and gave his agents’ names. I also declared publicly how they withdrew subutex from Eka Kherkheulidze’s house but closed the case. In Prosecutor’s Office I supervised Patrol Police and all the information was accumulated with me.
I have so much information you can’t even imagine. Tima Burjaliani’s brother was also detained foe narcotics; she got mad. The prosecutors were forced to pay GEL 2.000 for legal proceedings.
Q. – To who did the subutex withdrawn from Kherkheulidze’s house belong?
A. – Kherkheulidze has a half-brother; he was detained by the Patrol Police for drugs and when the house was searched they found 150 pills of subutex but the case was closed…
Q. – Under what conditions did you live in female prison?
A. – They used psychological pressure but couldn’t break me. As for the Rustavi prison, it’s awful there. After been taken there, for two weeks we were kept in quarantine. The floor was made of concrete and we didn’t even have bedclothes. On the plank beds we lay dressed. Around the building where we were serving our term there was not even a single tree. There are 5 buildings full of female inmates. The heated asphalt smell was coming into the cells. In summer we couldn’t breathe or open the window – there were rails inside and outside. Finally, when they saw that we were indeed suffocating, they cut the inside rails and opened the window. Afterwards the rails were installed again. The situation is alarming, there are many cases of self-inflicted wounds – the females are using razors. Especially those for whom the penalty was increase because of female riot but actually there was no riot at all. After I was released from prison an inmate cut her belly and veins but this fact wasn’t even made public. Almost every inmate fakes psychotropic medicine.
Q. – During elections obviously there was fuss in your prison.
A. – Next to us there was sixth penitentiary establishment where men are serving their term. For two years we saw no light there, everything was brought to standstill; we just knew that people were there but it was a cemetery for alive… That day at 12 at night the lights were turned on and for the first time we heard human voices.
I hadn’t seen my family for two years; I didn’t use my right for appointment because I couldn’t see my children from behind the glass. The women returned from appointment very depressed, telling us in tears how they parted with their weeping children. I beseeched everybody to remove the glasses, not to admit to have the parent-and-child feeling lost. After the elections this problem was solved. While I was in prison my parents died. I didn’t attend my mother’s funeral; my father died after the elections and I was taken to the funeral under escort. There are awful conditions in prison; those who managed it - collected some money and bought linoleum but those who couldn’t – continue to sit on the concrete. You can’t eat anything, the soup smells. One time they began boiling chicken stomachs and the inmates found worms in it. In the shop you can buy products of only ‘Ioli’ and single pieces of dried crust of ‘Tkbili Qvekana’. The inmates buy them to retain some taste. Our biggest misfortune began when Tea Chincharauli was appointed our doctor. She is a wolf in sheep’s skin. There was hardly anybody left who wasn’t operated on. She demanded it notwithstanding the need for it.
Q. – It’s a serious accusation; can you give concrete facts?
A. – 10-15 females were taken for operation daily. Mostly they underwent operation on women’s diseases, removing ovary. I can give you my own case: In April of 2011 I began to have high blood pressure; earlier I never had it. The illness was diagnosed as uterus’ tumor. I was taken to Todua oncology center. Without examining I was diagnosed to be healthy. Afterwards I was taken to ‘Newhospital’ where they prescribed strongest medicine. At the same time they said that I had to immediately be operated on. I refused. Tea Chincharauli demanded categorically from me to agree. I explained to her that I needed exact diagnoses, otherwise, blindly, I wouldn’t agree. Then a certain Jarji Tsiklauri was sent from the Prosecutor’ Office who demanded the same… Can you imagine when an inmate is told that she has tumor?
Since leaving the prison I’ve been seeing doctors. They tell me that I’m absolutely healthy. Now I’ll collect all the documents and sue doctor Chincharauli. Unless I kept my principles she would have removed everything from me. Chncharauli resigned on her own application but having made so many women unhappy I won’t let her go unpunished. Female prison is full of tuberculosis patients. Many of them don’t even know that they are ill because the medical building physically can’t accommodate this many people.