Ivanishvili’s Lawyers Do Not Trust Judge

The lawyers of businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, head of “Georgian Dream”, declared mistrust towards Judge Shota Getsadze from Administrative Case Collegium of the Tbilisi City Court.

The trial is about Ivanishvili’s suit on illegal suspension of Bidzina Ivanishvili’s and his wife’s Georgian citizenships.

Lawyer Eka Beselia told the news agency Pirveli that they have a reasonable doubt that the judge is not free and independent from political influence. Consequently, he cannot impartially discuss the case; however, Ivanishvili’s lawyers will do their best to prove that the President Saakashvili breached the international and national laws by stripping off Georgian citizenships from Ivanishvili and Ekaterine Khvedelidze.

According to Beselia, the president’s decision was a political revenge.

Judge Shota Getsadze did not satisfy four out of five solicitations of the lawyers concerning the administrative suit. In two solicitations the lawyers requested to avert the judge.

“The judge already has innate perception about the defendant side and consequently, he did not satisfy any of our solicitations which could assist the lawyers to valuably defend the client. Besides that, when audio-recording the court hearing, the judge did not record his voice and it gave a ground to our doubt about his impartiality. When we asked the judge to clarify why he did not record his voice, he said the instruction allowed him to act so; however, he avoided making clarifications about the instruction,” said the lawyers.

Besides that, the lawyers requested audio and video recording of the trial but the judge refused.

As for the defendant side, they do not agree with the suitor’s position. The representative of the Georgian President said: “There is no legal basis to satisfy the suit.”

News Agency “Pirveli’