General Prosecutor’s Office Denies Reports on Patarkatsishvili

The Georgian General Prosecutor’s Office said it denies reports by Imedi television that the Georgian authorities have agreed to extradite Badri Patarkatsishvili to Russia.

“No criminal charges have been initiated against Badri Patarkatsishvili… and he is not wanted by the Georgian law enforcement agencies,” the General Prosecutor’s Office said in a press statement on March 7.

Imedi TV, which is co-owned by Patarkatsishvili, reported on this subject extensively on March 7, citing an unnamed source and saying that the information was “unofficial.”

The report immediately captured the attention of many opposition politicians. Most of them, including MP Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights party; MPs Koka Guntsadze and Kakha Kukava from the Democratic Front parliamentary factions; and Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the Labor Party, said that the Georgian authorities were mounting pressure on Patarkatsishvili because he owns Imedi TV, which, as they put it, is the only television not under the authorities’ control.

Leader of the Industrialist Party MP Zurab Tkemaladze made moderate comments by saying that he does not think that the Georgian authorities intend to extradite Patarkatsishvili, who is wanted in Russia on allegations of fraud.

Lawmakers from the ruling National Movement party dismissed the reports as “rumors.”

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