13 Charged in Coup Plot
Criminal charges have been officially brought against 13 people suspected of plotting a coup, Chief Prosecutor of the capital Tbilisi Giorgi Gviniashvili said on September 7.
29 activists from the Russian-leaning Justice Party and its affiliated organizations were arrested on September 6. Of these, only 13 people are being charged and the others have been released, according to the General Prosecutor?s Office.
Temur Zhorzholiani, leader of the Conservative-Monarchist Party; Maia Nikolaishvili, chairperson of the Anti-Soros Movement; and Maia Topuria, top official of the Justice Party in Tbilisi, are among those who have been charged with plotting a coup.
The Tbilisi Chief Prosecutor said that one of the arrested persons ? Kakha Kantaria ? will also be charged for illegally possession of a large amount of arms and ammunition.
?Charges against these persons are based on a lot of evidence. The Prosecutor?s Office will appeal at court today to demand pre-trial detention for the suspects,? Gviniashvili said.
He also said that the identities of those persons who are witnesses to the case will remain confidential before the launch of a court hearing.
?They will deliver their testimonies at a trial and their identities will be unveiled at the court hearing,? Gviniashvili added.
The Interior Ministry disseminated a taped testimony of unidentified ?witnesses? on September 6 claiming that a coup was being plotted by key leaders of Igor Giorgadze?s Justice Party and its affiliated groups.
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