TI Georgia points at signs of political persecution in detention of ex-defence minister
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, July 30
Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) NGO points at possible political grounds in the detention of former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili.
Okruashvili, who served as prosecutor general, interior and defence ministers under the United National Movement government, was detained on July 25 for incitement to violence during the rally in Tbilisi on June 20.
“We are of the opinion that the presented video evidence [by the Interior Ministry] does not provide clear proof of criminal wrongdoing on Okruashvili’s part. We believe that the statements and actions carried out by Okruashvili were not sufficient to detain him,” the NGO says.
The NGO states that Okruashvili is a leader of an oppositional party and is critical towards the government.
“Moreover, he has recently made a claim for the ownership of Rustavi 2 TV, spoke openly about his deal with Kibar Khalvashi [a new owner of the channel] and filed a lawsuit to regain the shares in the company,” TI Georgia says.
The NGO called on the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Prosecutor’s Office to make public the evidence that would prove the charges against Okruashvili.
“Otherwise, there will be reasonable grounds to believe that Okruashvili’s detainment and the charges leveled against him were politically motivated,” TI Georgia says.
Okruashvili was sent to pre-trial detention on July 27.
Okruashvili and the members of the party he established earlier in the year – Victorious Georgia, say that the Georgian Dream government fights with Okruashvili and the charge against him is politically motivated.
Once the closest ally of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, Okruashvili went into his opposition in 2007.
He was detained the same year on corruption charges, but was released soon and had lived in France until 2012.
When the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the United National Movement government in October 2012, he returned to Georgia.
Now Okruashvili says that Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream coalition and the ruling party, failed to run the country correctly and vowed changes via elections.
He says that he repurchased Rustavi 2 TV in 2004 with seven million USD. However, the purchase agreement was signed with the name of businessman Kibar Khalvashi.
On July 18, 2019, the European Court of Human Rights allowed the return of 100 percent of Rustavi 2 shares to Khalvashi, who disputed that the United National Movement illegally seized the channel from him in 2006.
Okruashvili says that he has a document signed by Khalvashi in which the businessman admits that he was a nominal figure and represented Okruashvili in the purchase agreement.
Okruashvili has already filed a lawsuit against Khalvashi “to have the shares back.”
Khalvashi says that the document mentioned by Okruashvili is fake. He has already left a sample of his signature at Tbilisi Forensic Bureau to be matched with the signature in the agreement cited by Okruashvili.
