Archil Kbilashvili – There Is First Motive to Question President

Interpresnews

There is first motive to question the President of Georgia – Chief Prosecutor of Georgia Archil Kbilashvili stated in the TV-Program Press-Press of the TV-Company Maestro. He said the investigation unit has not yet made any decision with regard to the president’s interrogation though they already have evidence that the president possesses necessary information about some cases.

“I want to clarify to everybody that Georgian legislation does not envisage any privileges for any person – if somebody knows something, he/she shall definitely be questioned with regard to any criminal case. The law applies to the president and ordinary citizen equally. As for the concrete case, or the exact date when the president will be questioned, the investigation shall decide it. The latter will make final decision based on two criteria:

1. Whether they have enough evidence that the President has information about the fact;

2. if investigation unit concludes that his interrogation is reasonable – that is called discretion in legal terms.

I can tell you that there are several facts in the investigations conducted by the prosecutor’s office about which the President has information. It is first motive to interrogate him but the decision was not made yet,” said the chief prosecutor.

Kbilashvili added that case of the TV-Company Imedi is one of those cases where prosecutor’s office concluded that the president had information and connection too.

“There are some other cases where his connection is detected by the prosecutor’s office. So, we might need his interrogation,’ Kbilashvili said.

According to the chief prosecutor, the president might be questioned with regard to the armed conflict of August, 2008 too.

“Two days ago, representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office of The Hague Court visited us who requested to start proper investigation into the August war and we are obliged to do it. Previous government was conducting investigation just to pretend to be investigating something and there is no real result even four years later. A concrete question was asked to us: is new government of Georgia going to properly evaluate and study the facts from August war and answer the question whether war crimes were committed during the armed conflict or not? The new government and its leader declared a political will to investigate this fact impartially. On that purpose, we shall set up an investigative team and start process. So, anybody related with the armed conflict, including the president, might be questioned with regard to this case,” Kbilashvili said.