Rustavi 2 Releases Another Recording Discrediting the Gov’t
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, October 19
The opposition-minded Rustavi 2 TV channel has released another recording on Wednesday, in which imprisoned former official of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office Mirza Subeliani allegedly speaks about the murder of the third President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.
Subeliani, who was detained for not-reporting the murder of two teenage-boys in December 2017, allegedly tells the Georgian Dream lawmaker Viktor Japaridze that he is ready to kill Saakashvili and requests three months to do so.
He also says that he has two choices: either to kill Saakashvili or to deal with him and says that he has no desire to have any deals with the former president.
Allegedly Subeliani also says that he met with former Minister of Corrections Kakha Kakhishvili and demanded good conditions in prison.
He says that he has certain “compromising materials” against Kakhishvili and if his demand is ignored, he will release the recordings.
Kakhishvili responded that he has never met with Subeliani in prison and has never heard that the prisoner was not satisfied with his conditions in a cell.
“The fact that Subeliani has not been moved to another cell raises question marks to the recording,” Kakhishvili said and added that he was in the civil sector in 2013 and has nothing to hide.
In the previous recording released by Rustavi 2 Subeliani says that he has compromising materials against the Georgian Dream government and will release them if the authorities fail to help him leave prison.
The Prosecutor’s Office reported that they launched investigations regarding the recordings earlier than they would have been released by the media.
The office said that Rustavi 2 released only one part of the recordings. The office also released a recording in which Subeliani says that he is ready to tell lies and discredit the government if the authorities continue to ignore his problems.
Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed on Khorava Street on 1 December 2016 in central Tbilisi. One died immediately, while another died at the hospital the next day.
The father of one of the murdered boys claims that Subeliani presented obstacles to prevent a fair investigation into the murder as one of his underage relatives was allegedly involved in the murder of his son.
After the release of the first recording by Rustavi 2 last week, Subeliani attempted suicide.
Members of the government of Georgia say that the recordings are very likely to have been staged.
