Ex-Official Sentenced to Custody over Alleged Plot Links

Prosecutors say Irakli Batiashvili provided “intellectual support” towards rebel warlord.

The Tbilisi City Court sentenced Irakli Batiashvili, a member of the opposition Forward Georgia party, to a two-month pre-trial detention on July 30 after he was charged with having links to a coup attempt staged by rebel warlord Emzar Kvitsiani.

Batiashvili, who was Georgia’s security chief in early 90s, was arrested on July 29. He has denied the charges and described his arrest as politically-motivated.

Prosecutors say Batiashvili “gave recommendations and instructions” to Emzar Kvitsiani to plot a coup against the Georgian government.

Batiashvili’s attorney said that the charges are groundless, as a tapped phone conversation between Batiashvili and Kvitsiani, which was put forth by prosecutors as evidence, fails to prove Batiashvili’s links to the alleged plot. The attorney also noted that it has still not been confirmed whether or not Kvitsiani was even plotting a coup.

Some opposition parties have already condemned Batiashvili’s arrest.

“This arrest was made just to terrorize [the authorities’] opponents,” MP Zviad Dzidziguri of the opposition Conservative Party said.

“If the tapped phone conversation is the prosecutors’ only evidence, then I can not see any legal reason for the arrest,” MP Davit Berdzenishvili of the opposition Republican Party said.

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