Family of arrested archpriest opens tents in front Patriarchate
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, February 6
Family members and relatives of archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze, who was sent to prison for nine years last year for attempted murder, set up tents in front of the Georgian Patriarchate’s building in Tbilisi.
Tornike Mamaladze, brother of the archpriest, told the media that they are demanding the Eucharist for the archpriest.
“My brother is innocent. We have been waiting for the position of the Patriarchate for two years. Today, we asked the Patriarchate to give him the Eucharist, but they have not responded. Therefore, we decided to set up tents, we are starting a 24-hour protest,” Tornike Mamaladze stated late on Monday.
Last week Mamaladze’s lawyers sent the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
In February 2017, Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office announced that they had detained archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze, the deputy head of the Patriarchate’s Property Management Service and director general of the Patriarchate’s medical center, at Tbilisi International Airport, from where he intended to depart for Germany on February 10.
At that time the Patriarch was in Germany, where he was operated on for bladder-related complications.
Then Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze said that Mamaladze had attempted to acquire cyanide, and the man from whom he tried to receive the substance (journalist Irakli Mamaladze, the detained archpriest’s close friend and relative) informed the police that the archpriest intended to kill a “high ranking spiritual figure.”
The Office did not say that the person whose murder was allegedly planned was necessarily the Patriarch. However, their silence for several days and unconfirmed information generated speculation that the target was Patriarch Ilia.
Suspicion grew when then Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that the country had “avoided a huge tragedy.”
Only after several days did the Office state that the alleged target was the Patriarch’s female secretary Shorena Tetruashvili, and also released video footage in which Mamaladze spoke about Tetruashvili in a negative context.
He is also heard to say that Tetruashvili is an influential figure in the patriarchate who represents an obstacle for his career.
Mamaladze’s lawyers and family claim the man is innocent and the footage was fabricated.
Some members of the church claim that Mamaladze knew about various financial and property-related violations within the church, which is why he was “trapped by some people involved in illegalities.”
They said Patriarch’s secretary Tetruashvili is “the main wrongdoer.”
