Gharibashvili's lawyer says Burchuladze, Mkheidze bought freedom

The pre-trial hearing in Irakli Gharibashvili's new case will take place on Monday, October 19. At the hearing, the admissibility of evidence will be considered and decided, and it will be determined whether the case will move to the merits stage.

According to Gharibashvili's lawyer, Liliko Gelashvili, in the 48-volume case, nothing confirms Gharibashvili's guilt except the testimonies of former Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze and his brother-in-law, former senior Defense Ministry official Vasil Mkheidze, and even those are incomplete. Gelashvili calls the new case fabricated and writes in a statement that under a fair, impartial court free from political pressure, the case would certainly have ended in an acquittal.

"Until now, society has only heard the prosecution's version, but in reality the situation is completely different. The prosecution fully exchanged the case materials, and in the 48-volume case, indeed in the 48-volume case, the only evidence confirming Irakli Gharibashvili's guilt is Mkheidze's indirect testimony and Burchuladze's testimony, and even that is incomplete!!! I am not exaggerating!" writes Gelashvili.

According to the lawyer, the former senior officials, now convicted, bought their freedom and eased their conditions by testifying against Gharibashvili: "The named convicts, by testifying against I. Gharibashvili, in effect bought their freedom: they had their 10-year prison terms cut to a third, and some of them have already left prison!" In his assessment, such "deal-based justice" proves that the case concerns not the rule of law but a political order.

Gelashvili recalls that the Prosecutor General's Office showed a video of items seized during searches of several people's homes (gold bars, valuables). Gharibashvili was one of those whose home was searched, but the footage did not show whose items were seized from whom. The lawyer believes this was a deliberate step to link all these items to Gharibashvili in the public mind.

According to the lawyer, the charging, arrest and five-year pre-trial detention of Gharibashvili show that his team abandoned him. Gelashvili also draws attention to a letter Gharibashvili received in prison. Gharibashvili said the letter was sent by Mamuka Mdinaradze on the instructions of Bidzina Ivanishvili and offered him to take on a new corruption case against himself.

The lawyer notes that the letter reached Gharibashvili in July, when Mkheidze, Burchuladze and their case figure Tukvadze had already been interrogated and sentenced. At that time they had not mentioned Gharibashvili, while the materials of the new case show that they were questioned about Gharibashvili in August. "It is interesting, how could Mamuka Mdinaradze have known in July (Irakli publicly wrote that Mdinaradze sent him the letter) that Burchuladze would give testimony about Gharibashvili in August?" writes Gelashvili.

The lawyer asks why the Prosecutor General's Office did not launch an investigation into the letter, whose content, in his view, contained signs of criminal activity and whose "facts" were later carried out word for word. According to Gelashvili, the letter shows that their interest was not exposing corrupt conduct but a new serious charge that would serve as a means to politically neutralize Gharibashvili.

According to Gelashvili, the people in "Georgian Dream" who abandoned Gharibashvili and who "flip him the finger" or compare him to Mikheil Saakashvili are themselves destroying and undermining from within the "real, worthy Dream chosen by the people in the majority."

Former leader of Georgian Dream and former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili was presented with a new charge on August 24: receiving a bribe in particularly large amounts by a group under prior agreement. He does not admit the charge. According to the prosecution, Gharibashvili received a bribe of 750,000 GEL, which was handed over directly by Juansher Burchuladze. The article provides for imprisonment from 11 to 15 years.

Burchuladze has been found guilty in two cases. In one case he is charged, together with Gharibashvili, with taking a bribe, and he has a plea agreement in this case. In the second case he was charged with abuse of official powers and legalization of illegal income. In the first trial he had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the plea agreement halved the sentence. Ultimately he was sentenced to 5 years, of which he will actually serve 3 years in prison and the remaining 2 years will be suspended. Since he has already served part of it, he will leave prison in exactly 2 years. Burchuladze was fined 1 million GEL and his property was confiscated, including real estate in Spain and in Tskneti.

Vasil Mkheidze is Burchuladze's brother-in-law and was accused of helping him embezzle money. Initially he had been sentenced to 8 years in prison, but after a plea agreement concluded in September, the actual term was reduced to up to 1 year and 2 months, and since this time had already passed, he left prison in September.