Temirlan Machalikashvili wounded in Pankisi special operation, dies in hospital

Temirlan Machalikashvili, who was wounded in a special operation which took place in Pankisi Gorge has died in hospital – the Interpressnews agency cited doctor Zaza Lursmaniashvili as saying.

“I won’t let it go unanswered. I’m going to deal with each and every person responsible for that,” Machalikashvili’s mother, Aiza Margoshvili, told the journalists who gathered outside the hospital. In her words, her son was going to be taken to a Turkish hospital for further treatment today.

“We were going to transfer him to Turkey this morning and those fascists intentionally killed my son absolutely for no reason,” said Aiza Margoshvili.

• Temirlan Machalikashvili, 19, was wounded in his head during the National Security Service’s special operation in the Pankisi Gorge on 26 December 2017. Until now he was undergoing treatment in Archangel St Michael Clinical Hospital. Georgian law-enforcers claims that Machalikashvili was shot when he tried to detonate a grenade. However, Machalikashvili’s relatives say that he was sleeping when law-enforcers burst into his house.
•  According to the law-enforcers, all individuals detained during the special operation in the Pankisi Gorge, including Temirlan Machalikashvili, were linked to Ahmed Chatayev and his associates who were killed in the special operation at Monk Gabriel Salosi street in Tbilisi. As reported, the detainees had helped them to illegally cross into Georgia, found an apartment as well as provided them with firearms.
•   Hundreds of locals later on held a protest rally in Pankisi demanding that the investigation be conducted in a fair and objective manner. They claimed that the actions of the security forces and the way Machalikashvili had been treated gave rise to ‘anger across the Pankisi Gorge’.
•  Machalikashvili’s family insisted that he should undergo medical treatment abroad.  However, no European hospital agreed to provide treatment to the wounded young man.