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Tbilisi City Court Is About to Discuss Case of Zurab Giguashvili, Uncle of Irakli Okruashvili

November 12, 2012

Today, on November 12, at 4:00 pm Tbilisi City Court intends to discuss case on Zurab Giguashvili, uncle of former Defense Minister of Georgia Irakli Okruashvili; Giguashvili is charged under Article 223 Part II of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Namely, Zurab Giguashvili is accused of participation in the formation of illegal armed formation.

Pre-trial hearing was held in October of 2011 but since then the court stopped the case discussion for uncertain reasons and its essential discussion is about to renew today, a year later.

Accused Zurab Giguashvili is sought and he is not in Georgia at the moment. Head of Human Rights Center’s legal aid center Nino Andriashvili defends his rights at the trial.

“There are witness testimonies in case materials which became ground to accuse Zurab Giguashvili of the crime. However, there is no evidence against him besides those testimonies. Giguashvili does not plead guilty. His relatives also claim that he is innocent. According to our evaluation, Zurab Giguashvili was arbitrarily detained. Interrogation of some other people revealed that they were compelled to plead guilty and instead they were offered plea-agreement. There is evidence that one of the detainees was beaten and he could not appear at the trial for that reason.”

Zurab Giguashvili was accused of the alleged crime on June 5, 2011. On June 30, he was arrested through blatant violation of the procedural law when he was crossing southern border of the country. He was demanded to give receipt that he would not leave Georgia but in the contrary, they assisted him to travel abroad.

Human Rights Center
12.11. 12 

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