Tbilisi City Court on May 21 denied bail to Giorgi Barateli, who is suspected of killing former lawmaker Guram Sharadze. Despite his defence lawyers offering a GEL 20,000 security, Barateli will remain in custody for two months while pre-trial investigations take place.
Sharadze, 67, who was shot three times in downtown Tbilisi late on May 20, was a nationalist politician and MP until 2003; he had been out of politics since then.
Barateli, 29, who personally knew Sharadze, was captured by police shortly after the fatal shooting.
Police said the suspect, who was slightly injured during the arrest, pleaded guilty; but investigators have yet to divulge a possible motive for the murder.
Rusudan Sharadze, a daughter of the victim, however, said on May 22 that the murder had been ?politically motivated.?
?All the other [potential motives] are absurd and mere speculation,? she said.
Most opposition lawmakers have been cautious in their remarks about the murder, merely calling on the authorities to immediately investigate it.
However, others, mostly outside Parliament, have had a more sinister interpretation, accusing the authorities of being behind the murder.
?Regardless of what the prosecutors will say, the murder is anyway politically motivated,? Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the opposition Labor Party, said on May 21.
Irina Sarishvili, leader of the Imedi political party ? affiliated with wanted ex-security chief Igor Giorgadze ? said that the murder was aimed at terrorizing the government opponents.
Lawmakers from the ruling National Movement party have dismissed such allegations as ?absurd.?
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