7 Georgians in court on forged passport charges [1]
Monday, October 10, 2016 - 15:12. Updated on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 - 09:41.
Seven Georgians including a 10-year-old boy appeared at the Fasi Magistrate’s Court in Nuku’alofa this morning similarly charged with dealing with forged documents, namely stolen Greek passports. The charge against the boy was struck off.
The case was adjourned to Monday, October 24.
The Georgians are reported to have arrived in Tonga on September 22 with alleged stolen Greek passports. They were arrested and charged last week on Friday October 7, and have remained under house arrest at Tofoa to date.
The boy Armaz Khuluzauri a.k.a. Nilolaos Markopoulos appeared with the other six, who included two women and four men, before Chief Magistrate Folau Lokotui this morning.
The Acting Attorney General ‘Aminiasi Kefu told the court the prosecution had decided to strike off the charge against Armaz, because he is young and could not have committed the offence alone.
Chief Magistrate Lokotui advised the young boy that his charge had been struck off and that he is free.
The other six accused, who were unrepresented in court, are Nino Menabdishvili (a.k.a Anastasia Papadatos), Koba Shinjikashvili (a.k.a Athanassios Panagiotopoulou), Dato Dekanoidze (a.k.a Stefanos Markopoulos), Maia Garibashivili (a.k.a Aikaterini Markopoulous), Zaza Tsikarishvil (a.k.a Evangeles Dragandis) and Genadi Gachechiladze (a.k.a Stefanos Papadatos).
The relationship of the accused to each was not revealed during their short appearance at the lower court.
Case
Kefu said all of the accused remain under house arrest and police provide them food.
“They have no finances at this point,” he said.
The accused are from Georgia and had used Greek passports to enter Tonga after arriving on a flight from Fiji. They came to Tonga with the intention to go to New Zealand on the fake passports because Greek citizens do not require a visa to enter New Zealand.
He asked the Magistrate if the accused be further kept under house arrest to appear in court on October 24, so papers could be distributed in this case.
The accused, who all had trouble understanding Englis,h even when someone from the prosecution’s side assisted them in the English language.
The Chief Magistrate set their case aside so that assistance could be provided in the translation. A phone was also provided by police to the accused, which had a translation application, which they went outside touse.
When their case was called back to court after a few minutes, Kefu informed the court the accused had understood that they will be kept in the house arrest, until October 24.
Chief Magistrate Lokotui then ordered that the six accused be further detained.
"This is a very serious offence to use fake passports alleged to have been Greek passports but you are Georgian citizens," he said.
He said it is understood from the Acting Attorney General’s submission that they came to Tonga with the intention to travel to New Zealand "to find a life".
The accused were also informed of their right to have legal representation.
Interpol
Tonga Police had investigated the accused after being informed by the New Zealand Immigration Office.
A search warrant was executed last Friday, and they were arrested at their accommodation.
Tonga Police had also engaged with Interpol and confirmed that the Greek passports were reported to have been stolen earlier this year and had been altered with false identities.