‘Patarkatsishvili on Wanted List’ – General Prosecutor’s Office

Tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili is wanted by the Georgian law enforcement agencies, the General Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on January 16.

Patarkatsishvili was remanded in custody for two months by Tbilisi City Court – in absentia – late on January 15. Patarkatsishvili, who ran in the recent presidential election, was charged by the General Prosecutor’s Office on January 10 with conspiring to overthrow the government and plotting and planning two separate “terrorist acts”, one of which was allegedly aimed at Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili.

Shalva Shavgulidze, an attorney acting on behalf of Patarkatsishvili, told Civil.Ge on January 16 that he planned to appeal the ruling in the Court of Appeals. He maintained that Patarkatsishvili could not be placed on a police wanted list, unless the Appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision.

He said that the charges were politically-motivated.

Patarkatsishvili spends most of his time in Britain and Israel. Keti Akhalkatsi, a General Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman, told Civil.Ge that no immediate extradition request would be made. “Formal procedures require that we first determine where [he is]; an extradition request to the appropriate country may follow then,” she said.

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