Tbilisi City Court has sentenced former Minister of Internal Affairs Irakli Okruashvili to seven years in prison in the case related to the 2004 murder of Buta Robakidze. Former Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili, who was also charged, was acquitted. The information was confirmed to InterpressNews by Okruashvili’s lawyer, Mamuka Chabashvili.
Chabashvili says the defense will appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals. He said Okruashvili was convicted of abuse of power, and that the case has been ongoing since late 2019.
Chabashvili outlined the basis of the charges:
“In 2004, a patrol officer accidentally fired a shot, killing Buta Robakidze. Authorities initially announced that weapons were found on Robakidze’s companions, but later allegations emerged that the weapons had been planted. The then–head of the Tbilisi Patrol Police, Temur Mikadze, who has since died, changed his testimony multiple times.”
Lawyer says that in 2019 Mikadze issued a statement — after receiving a plea deal — claiming that Okruashvili, then Minister of Internal Affairs, instructed him to give an interview saying a confrontation had occurred, which he interpreted as an order to plant weapons.
“The verdict states that Irakli Okruashvili ordered the planting of weapons — based solely on Mikadze’s claim that he ‘interpreted the instruction that way’. Previously, Mikadze had given entirely different testimonies. You cannot issue a verdict based on ‘I understood it this way’,” Chabashvili said.
The defense plans to challenge the ruling in a higher court.
