City Hall Employee Charged for Bribery Released from Pre-trial Detention
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, January 16
(TBILISI)-- A Judge of Tbilisi City Court delivered a verdict to release the former employee of Tbilisi City Hall, Otar Abesadze who was in the pre-trial detention for bribery.
The verdict came after the series of statements and requests from the family and certain people to the court not to leave the 28-year-old man in the pre-trial detention due to his poor health condition.
Abesadze’s lawyer stated that the judge made the decision based on the outcomes of the expertise which said the detainee suffered a “harsh illness,” the lawyer did not wish to openly speak about.
The judge demanded Abesadze to leave all his identification documents in the court in order to decrease the possibility of flee.
When released Abesadze excused people for “his mistake.”
Abesadze was arrested by officers of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia on charges of accepting bribesin early July last year.
The SSS said that in May 2017, Abesadze promised a certain citizen a permit and all the necessary documents for opening the cafe “Tivi”, and in return received $3,000.
After the detention of their employee, Tbilisi City Hall released a statement saying the government of the capital will not tolerate crime without a subsequent response and will cooperate with the investigation.
If confirmed, Abesadze will face 6 to 9 years in prison.
