Alleged Accomplice In Georgian Torture Ring Extradited From Austria

TBILISI -- An alleged accomplice of a wanted former Georgian official charged with torture and illegal incarceration has been extradited from Austria.

Georgia's Interior Ministry said November 8 that Davit Chaginava had been arrested in Austria as the result of joint efforts by Interpol officers in Tbilisi, Ankara, and Vienna.

He is now in a detention center in the town of Rustavi.

Investigators say Chaginava was a member of an illegal criminal group that was allegedly used by the former police chief in the western province of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Megis Kardava, to abduct, beat, torture, and rape people to force them to confess or give false testimony in court.

Kardava's current whereabouts are unknown.

Tbilisi issued an arrest warrant for him earlier this year.


With reporting by apsny.ge