Chief Prosecutor Says Archpriest Planned Murder of High-Rank Cleric

Georgia’s Prosecutor General, Irakli Shotadze, stated that the Prosecutor’s Office has arrested a cleric on suspicion of the intention to murder.

Shotadze held a special press-conference on Monday, in which he claimed the Head of the Property Management Department of the Patriarchate, father Giorgi Mamaladze, was plotting to poison a high-rank cleric.

“The investigation was launched into the case on February 2, based on a request by a citizen who indicated that his acquaintance Giorgi Mamaladze asked him for help acquiring the deadly poison cyanide with which the latter planned to kill a high-rank cleric. The Prosecutor's Office launched an immediate investigation,” Shotadze said.

The Prosecutor General did not specify who the arrested priest was going to murder, but according to unofficial information, this person is His Holiness, Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, Ilia II.

Shotadze said the archpriest was detained in Tbilisi International Airport from where he tried to fly to Germany on February 10th.

“Police searched the archpriest and found the poisonous substance cyanide on his person,” he said, adding that the police also found an unregistered handmade firearm with six cartridges in the house of the detained.

At the present, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II is in one of Germany’s prestigious clinics in Berlin, recovering from a successful gallbladder operation.

The Prosecutor says that in connection to the alleged preparation for the crime, guards from the State Security Service of Georgia had been sent to Germany to ensure the Patriarch’s security.

“I am not saying that the intended victim was the Patriarch. I am giving the information and evidence that we have at this stage. The investigation is ongoing,” said Shotadze.

If archpriest Mamaladze is proven guilty, he faces from 7 to 15 years imprisonment.

Thea Morison