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Georgia’s Ex-Top Defense Official Sentenced to Home Imprisonment

By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, December 4
Former Chief of Georgian Military Police Detained in Ukraine last year, Megis Kardava, was sentenced to home imprisonment after the pre-extradition detention.

The information was confirmed by Chief Prosecutor’s Office Georgia (POG).

The agency reports that Kardava applied to Ukraine for asylum as soon as he was arrested in November 2017.

“When asylum granting procedures are completed, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine will examine the extradition issue of Megis Kardava to Georgia,” the POG said.

The agency explained that Kardava's extradition to Georgia is considered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and since last year he had been in pre-extradition imprisonment, the maximum term of which is one year after the arrest.

The Chief Prosecutor's Office of Georgia demanded extradition of Kardava on 11 criminal cases in connection to which he was convicted in absentia. The proceedings of some cases are still underway in different instance courts of Georgia.

Kardava, who held a high post under the United National Movement leadership, had been on the internationally wanted list since February 13, 2013, until he was detained in Ukraine on November 1, 2017, when he was trying to enter Ukraine from Romania with a false passport.

In 2014 Kardava was sentenced to nine years imprisonment in absentia in Georgia for various criminal charges including torture and abuse of power.

The other charges are: the humiliation of a person, coercion and putting a person in an inhumane position, liability of perpetrator and accomplice in torture, liability of perpetrator and accomplice in sexual abuse under violence and illegal imprisonment.