Prosecutor’s Office Names Person Who Allegedly Pressured Supreme Court Judges

TBILISI - The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG) released a statement regarding the alleged pressure on Supreme Court judges Besarion Alavidze and Paata Katamadze. It stated that the person who sent letters and short text messages to these judges is the former government official Davit Sakvarelidze, ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s ally, from when the now opposition party - United National Movement (UNM)- was in power.

“The evidence obtained so far, reveals that on January 11, 2017, judges of the Supreme Court - B. Alavidze and P. Katamadze, received written requests to their home addresses, sent in the name of D. Sakvalrelidze. In these letters, the author suggests the judges exercise certain actions in return for bribes. The aforementioned judges also received short text messages with similar content on their mobile phones from a foreign mobile phone number,” the statement reads.

The POG also revealed that the judges recieved the letters and SMSs from a Ukrainian number.

“Investigation into the case is in progress under Article 364 (2) of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Prompt and effective investigative actions will be carried out within the frameworks of investigation and society will be notified of the results,” the statement by POG reads.

Davit Sakvarelidze rejects all charges and says that the letters published by POG cannot be identified.

“It is very pitiful  that the institutions built for years with great efforts have now appeared in the hands of primitive people…what they are doing is a crime. The Chief Prosecutor's Office forged criminal case evidence. There is a separate article pertaining to it, and sooner or later they will be held responsible”, said Sakvarelidze from Kyiv, where he has been living since 2015, when he was appointed as Deputy Prosecutor General.

Sakvarelidze says that if the POG summons him for questioning, he will not travel to Georgia.

The case is allegedly linked to the ownership dispute in the Rustavi 2 TV case, which is being considered by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court at the present.

Three Judges of Supreme Court, including Besarion Alavidze, and Paata Katamadze decided on November 21, 2016 to hand the notorious case to the Chamber, which is tasked with discussing the most complex cases.

Alavidze and Katamadze have not made any comments concerning the case yet.

By Thea Morrison