One More Suspect Sent to Pretrial Custody on Terror-related Charges
The Tbilisi City Court has upheld the prosecution’s motion and sent to pretrial detention one more resident of Georgia’s north-eastern Akhmeta District, Zurab Idoidze, arrested on charges of assisting the group of terror suspects, who allegedly plotted attacks on diplomatic missions in Georgia and Turkey.
According to case materials, Idoidze traveled to Turkey together with Zurab Gornakashvili, who was detained earlier, where they “handed mobile phones and SIM cards to the terrorist organization members, and drove them to the Turkish side of the Turkish-Georgian border with the intention of crossing the border illegally.”
The court considered that there were “high risks of committing a new crime, obstructing the evidence collection process and hiding of detainees, and therefore, it deemed reasonable to apply imprisonment as a penalty.”
Four other persons suspected of assisting ISIS member Ahmed Chatayev’s group members were detained on December 26. Another suspect, Temirlan Machalikashvili, was shot during the detention operation and succumbed to his injuries on January 10.
Investigation against all five suspects is underway under paragraph 3 of Article 3311 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, involving funding and assisting terrorist activities, which is punishable by imprisonment for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 17 years, or by life imprisonment.
