Woman Claims Akhaltskhake Police Chief Committed Sexual Assault Against Her

On the night of August 24, at 12:15 AM, police from Akhaltskhake went to the residence of Arthur Mkoyan to search the house based on suspicions that there were weapons present. Arthur Mkoyan was arrested, while his wife accuses the Akhaltskhake police chief, Shalva Lomsadze, of sexual assault against her.

When the police attempted to search Arthur Mkoyan's home, he, his wife, and parents refused to allow them access, arguing that they were members of the "United National Movement" party and needed to inform their party's headquarters, as well as wait for their attorney to arrive.

According to Mina Mkoyan, the police warned them that if they did not open the door, they would break it down and enter, which they did. Arthur Mkoyan resisted, trying to prevent the police from entering, and was subsequently arrested.

Mina Mkoyan stated that their children were sleeping, and they did not want the officers to enter to avoid frightening them. The police searched the Mkoyan home, and after finding nothing, they apologized and left.

"They said they were searching the house because my husband supposedly shot police officer Stepan Smoyan on August 23 and that they had videos as evidence," said Mina Mkoyan.

At the time when the police demanded to open the door, Arthur Mkoyan went live on his Facebook page. When Mina tried to grab her husband's phone from the floor, she injured her hand.

"One of the police officers said, 'Take Arthur's phone,' and when I tried to take it, he grabbed my hand, and that's how I got injured," she recounted.

She blames the Akhaltskhake police chief Shalva Lomsadze for all these events. Last year, on December 24, Lomsadze allegedly kidnapped her with the intention of committing sexual assault.

"A black car was following me with tinted windows; they kept the siren on for a long time, so I changed my route out of fear and then encountered a white pickup truck," Mina Mkoyan described. "A man got out of the car and asked if I was Mina, then forcibly put me in the vehicle, where I saw the police chief. I asked the police chief what he wanted from me, and he replied, 'I promised you you'd be mine, and today is that day.'"

"He grabbed both my hands, then my throat, and attempted to assault me sexually. During this time, Shalva Lomsadze was in the vehicle, along with the man who forcibly put me in the car and the driver. Shalva called someone and told them to turn off all the city’s cameras," Mina added.

Mina fought back and hit Shalva, who in turn hit her. "During this, he snatched my bag that contained money and valuable gold jewelry. He took the money and jewelry out and threw my bag back at me, taking three rings, one cross, and two pendants, saying that I would regret it and left before reaching Aspindza," she detailed.

According to her, they drove her to Akhaltsikhe, where she managed to escape from the car and hid for about 30 to 40 minutes in a restroom, then called her husband's brother to tell him what had happened and waited for her husband to come after her.

When asked why they did not report this incident to the police at that time and why they did not take action, she replied, "We kept quiet, hoping to forget, but we continued to live in fear. After that, there were instances where he wrote to me, threatening that he would imprison my husband. We did not respond. In the last three months, he met with my husband in various places, rolling down the car window to insult him; many have seen it, but I do not want to publish their names," said Arthur's wife.

JNEWS contacted Akhaltskhake police chief Shalva Lomsadze, but he stated that he could not answer our questions due to time constraints and that we could refer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to receive answers. We then contacted the Ministry and are awaiting a response.