12 Suspected Coup Plotters Sentenced to Custody

12 activists from parties and organizations affiliated with wanted ex-security chief Igor Giorgadze?s Justice Party were sentenced to a two-month pre-trial custody by the Tbilisi City Court on September 8.

All 12 persons are suspected of involvement in plotting a coup.

A separate hearing was launched into Maia Nikolaishvili?s case late on September 8 in the Tbilisi City Court. Nikolaishvili, a chairperson of the Anti-Soros Movement, also faces coup plotting charges. Prosecutors want two-month pre-trial detention for Nikolaishvili as well.

All suspects deny the charges and say that their arrests are politically-motivated.

?It seems that Saakashvili really wants a revolution – and he will receive it,? Irina Sarishvili, leader of the Imedi Party (which is affiliated with Giorgadze?s Justice Party), told reporters on September 8.

Sarishvili was not arrested, but law enforcers closed down an office of Giorgadze?s Charitable Foundation in Tbilisi, which Sarishvili chairs.

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