Prosecutors Charge Businessman Giorgi Ramishvili with Illegally Carrying Firearm
The Prosecutor’s Office on July 7 charged Giorgi Ramishvili, a prominent Georgian businessman and founder of the Silk Road Group, with illegally carrying a firearm, a criminal offense punishable by four to seven years in prison.
Ramishvili was detained a day earlier, with police reporting that law enforcers seized a firearm, a magazine, and cartridges while examining his hand luggage through a scanner at the departures terminal of Tbilisi International Airport.
“The defendant was found to have in his carry-on luggage a 9mm caliber ‘WALTHER PPK/S’ model firearm, registered to him for possession, along with a magazine and seven rounds of 9mm caliber live ammunition, which he was carrying illegally,” the Prosecutor’s Office said, as it has requested Ramishvili’s pretrial detention pending the final verdict.
Following his arrest, the Silk Road Group urged in a statement “all interested parties to refrain from spreading unverified information,” noting that “relevant legal procedures are underway.”
Ramishvili’s lawyer, Irma Chkadua, rejected any political motives behind the case, describing the incident as an “unforeseen mistake.”
“He [Ramishvili] does not link the detention to anything. What should he be linking to? This incident has absolutely no connection to politics,” Chkadua told TV Pirveli, adding that Ramishvili will himself provide additional details.
The report of Ramishvili’s arrest comes amid what is seen as mounting pressure on current and former figures in political and business circles close to the ruling Georgian Dream party and its founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Former Deputy Economy Minister Romeo Mikautadze was arrested in June on corruption-related charges, facing up to 12 years in prison. Earlier, Ivanishvili’s former associate Giorgi Bachiashvili, convicted in absentia for allegedly misappropriating cryptocurrency, was arrested after what Bachiashvili argued was his abduction from a foreign land with the direct involvement of State Security Service Head Anri Okhanashvili. In May, the court sentenced businessman Giorgi Chikvaidze and his associate to eight and nine years in prison, respectively, on charges of embezzling funds.
Several high-ranking officials, including ministers known to have enjoyed Ivanishvili’s trust, left their posts over the past few months.
Today, July 7, Tornike Rizhvadze, the former head of the Adjara government, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound. Pro-government media described the incident as a suicide attempt, but critics expressed skepticism about this account.
Coincidentally, the Georgian Dream-dominated parliament is pushing through a legislative package that would bar individuals convicted of financial crimes from leaving the country, even after they have served their sentence. The legislation, which has passed two readings and is expected to be adopted during the fall session, introduces radical measures to recover embezzled or stolen funds, including from the convict’s relatives. It also restricts others from providing financial assistance to the offender on pain of criminal prosecution. This legislation is believed to serve Ivanishvili’s drive to punish those, including former business or party associates, whom he suspects of misusing his funds and breaching trust.
Two days before Ramishvili’s arrest, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze held a meeting with businesspeople. According to the official press release, the meeting touched on “positive trends in the country’s economy and the high economic growth pace.”
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