Coup Plotter Suspects Go on Trial

11 activists from parties and organizations affiliated with wanted ex-security chief Igor Giorgadze?s Justice Party go on trial on March 19 on charges of plotting a coup. All of them deny accusations.

12 activists were arrested and charged last September; but leader of Anti-Soros Movement Maia Nikoleishvili was released on bail after pleading guilty and giving testimonies against the rest of 11 activists.

In a statement, disseminated through PR Newswire on March 19, Melinda Sarafa and Lawrence Barcella, two American attorneys of one of the suspects Maia Topuria, called on the U.S. administration official to urge Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze, who currently pays a visit to the Unites States, ?to avoid political pressure by the executive branch on the Georgian judiciary.? They said that Topuria?s arrest and prosecution is ?unquestionably politically motivated.?

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