Prosecutor's Office arrests former officials under businessman Patarkatsishvili’s case

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Wednesday, November 13

Badri Patarkatsishvili was a businessman who became largely involved in politics. He contested the 2008 Georgian presidential election and came 3rd with 7.1% of the votes.

Prosecutor's Office has arrested former employees of Constitutional Security Department

The Tbilisi Prosecutor's Office has arrested Davit Kokashvili and Ilia Gamgebeli, officers of the Constitutional Security Department (CSD), for alleged abuse of power and willful unlawful detention. Former Deputy Chief of the Second Main Division Levan Kardava has been charged.

According to the agency, the investigation revealed that in the summer of 2006, the CSD decided to tighten its surveillance over businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, his houses, his security, and close persons because of his political activity. Department officials planned an attack on Patarkatsishvili's home in Ureki, which involved firing shots in the direction of the house. According to the prosecution, the actions were related to his political activity, which was unacceptable to the former authorities and was perceived as a high risk. The event was a warning action aimed at stopping Patarkatsishvili's political activity.

Before the attack, CSD officers ordered the head of the Ureki police, Jema Shamatava to remove the group of on-duty police officers from Patarkatsishvili's house. Shamatava warned the curator of the house with a short text message.

The CSD leadership decided to punish him for this. Ex-head of the second division, Giorgi Dgebuadze planned the illegal detention of Shamatava, which was implemented by Kardava, Kokashvili, and the Governor.

“To implement the plan, they [the former police officials] staged a robbery and instructed a man who was detained for robbery to accuse Shamatava of torture and sexual abuse,” says the statement from the prosecutor’s office.

The Prosecutor’s Office reports that the man, that was hired against Shamatava, inflicted injuries on his body (burned cigarette on his own body) at Ureki police station and accused Shamatava of torture and abuse which led to Shamatava’s detention and sentencing him to 9 years in prison.

The aforementioned persons are prosecuted under Article 333 part 3 (c ) and Article 147 part 3 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which envisages from 9 to 12 years of imprisonment.

Dgebuadze was arrested in the Netherlands – he was extradited to Georgia. He shall be subject to the procedures provided in international treaties to obtain the consent of the extradition country to commence the prosecution. The investigation continues to detect/disclose other persons participating in the crime.

As for Gia Dgebuadze, who organized a plan of deliberate unlawful detention to punish Jemal Shamatava, according to the Prosecutor's Office, he was arrested in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and subsequently extradited to Georgia. Accordingly, the procedures set out in international treaties concerning the GD will be applied for with the consent of the country executing the extradition. The investigation is ongoing at this stage to identify and prosecute other persons involved in the crime.

Patarkatsishvili suddenly died intestate in February 2008 sparking one of the largest estate battles in the legal history of Georgia. In October 2018 the government of Georgia officially accused the former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili of ordering the assassination of Badri Patarkatsishvili.