For 15 Years of Self-Rule
// Former Leader of Adjara Receives 15-Year Sentence
Yesterday a Batumi city court sentenced Aslan Abashidze, the ex-leader of Georgia's Adjara Autonomous Republic who now lives in Moscow, in absentia to fifteen years in prison. The court also ordered him to pay some $60 million into the Georgian government's budget. The Georgian prosecutor general can now demand that Russia extradite Mr. Abashidze, but many in Georgia, where Mr. Abashidze is known to be "a friend of Luzhkov and Putin," do not believe that he will ever be returned to his native country.
During the two-month trial, the prosecutor showed the judge numerous pieces of evidence testifying that for many years monies collected as taxes in Adjara were not included in the federal or regional budgets; instead, the proceeds were diverted into the Fund for the Democratization of the Adjara Autonomous Republic, which people unofficially called the Aslan Abashidze Fund. The money was channeled into the fund through accounts opened in the Morskoy Bank of Adjara, after which it was invested in projects under the patronage of Aslan Abashidze and members of his family.
In court hearings, the prosecutor requested that the judge "take steps to ensure that Aslan Abashidze receives his just desserts under the law, even though he is currently living in Moscow." For their part, lawyers for Mr. Abashidze told the court that they believe that the defendant's guilt has not been proven. "No one in this room has been able to prove that Abashidze crippled the state or society itself with any financial machinations," said Shalva Shavgulidze, a lawyer for Mr. Abashidze. "To the contrary, Aslan Abashidze paid the electricity debt accumulated by the population of Adjara; he also gasified Batumi and several other towns, built maternity hospitals, and renovated the theaters and the university. And now all of this is being turned into evidence of his guilt! If there is some kind of gap in the legal underpinnings of these investments, then that is a matter of administrative responsibility, not a criminal matter." The judge, however, finding the arguments presented by the defense less than convincing, issued an unprecedented decision: he sentenced the former president of Adjara to fifteen years in prison and ordered Mr. Abashidze to pay 98,229,530 laris (around $60 million) into the Georgian government's budget. Another case brought by the Georgian government against Mr. Abashidze, this time accusing him of terrorism, is set to begin soon in Batumi
Aslan Abashidze was overthrown as leader of Adjara in May 2004 in a so-called "bloodless revolution," as the Georgian authorities refer to the event. However, the stage was set for Mr. Abashidze's peaceful exit from Adjara only after lengthy negotiations between the Georgian side and Moscow. At that time, the administrative border of Adjara with Georgia was patrolled on the one side by forces from the Adjara Interior Ministry and on the other by detachments of crack federal troops. The situation was threatening to explode into a large-scale armed conflict when, at the last minute, Moscow and Tbilisi came to an agreement: the Kremlin promised the Georgian authorities that it would not contest the reestablishment of Georgian control over the region and agreed to remove Adjara's disgraced leader in exchange for a guarantee of immunity for him, which Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili publicly gave to Mr. Abashidze in a live broadcast on state television. On May 6, 2004, a Russian plane carrying then-Foreign Affairs minister Igor Ivanov touched down in Batumi and, after a short conversation with Mr. Abashidze, carried the fallen leader off to Moscow. A few months later, the Georgian prosecutor general opened a criminal case against Mr. Abashidze under Articles 332 (abuse of power) and 182 (misuse of large amounts of government funds) of the Georgian criminal code. He was also subsequently indicted in absentia for the crime of terrorism in connection with several bridges that were blown up between Adjara and Georgia in spring 2004, and an international warrant was put out for his arrest.
Large sums were seized from the earnings of several private companies in Batumi that were either co-founded or co-owned by the former Adjaran leader, accounts belonging to Aslan Abashidze and members of his family at the Morskoy Bank of Adjara were frozen, and soon the bank itself was dissolved. The court also ordered the confiscation of real estate belonging to Mr. Abashidze's family, which included several apartments in Batumi and a house in Tbilisi. However, Mr. Abashidze's defense team challenged the ruling in court, arguing that the house in Tbilisi officially belongs not to Mr. Abashidze himself but to his father and that the apartments in Batumi are owned by his son and daughter. Consequently, the order to confiscate Mr. Abashidze's property was sent back for review.
However, Mr. Abashidze's lawyers believe that all of the Abashidze family's property that they managed to protect will now be confiscated and the harshest measures possible taken against the accused himself. "I think that the Georgian Ministry of Justice will soon demand that the Russian side extradite Aslan Abashidze, since the sentence is already in force," said Mr. Shavgulidze, Mr. Abashidze's lawyer. "We do not even have the possibility to appeal the court's decision, because amendments were introduced into the Georgian legal code on January 18 of this year that particularly concern cases with absent defendants. According to these amendments, if a defendant is found guilty in absentia, his lawyers cannot appeal the verdict. The only person who can mount an appeal is Aslan Abashidze himself, if he were to come to Georgia. But if he comes to Georgia, he will be arrested as soon as he sets foot in the country, since the court's verdict is already in force. Thus, my client has the right to appeal, but only if he does so while he's sitting in jail. That is a flagrant violation of his civil rights, and we intend to take the matter before the European Court of Human Rights. Everywhere in the world a person has the right to have his case heard in at least two different courts," he said. According to Mr. Shavgulidze, "such a law does not only trample on the rights of Aslan Abashidze – it discredits the Georgian authorities, who talk constantly about their democratic principles but who are in fact leading society towards authoritarianism."
Mr. Abashidze's lawyers also believes that the Russian side will not give up the former leader of Adjara, since "a fair trial and his personal safety have not been guaranteed in Georgia." "We will send our objections to the extradition request to the appropriate Russian authorities," said Mr. Shavgulidze. "We will write that we do not believe that our client's guilt has been proven and that the court's decision was decided ahead of time under pressure from the government. We will also present our opinion that it would be dangerous for Aslan Abashidze to return to Georgia. I think that these arguments will be more than enough to convince the Russian side not to hand Mr. Abashidze over to the Georgian authorities."
Georgian politicians also believe that Russia will refuse to extradite Aslan Abashidze - not because his life will be in danger if he returns to Georgia, however, but because "Aslan Abashidze is a friend of Luzhkov and Putin." Konstantin Gabashvili, the chairman of the international relations committee in the Georgian parliament, told Kommersant that the Georgian authorities will demand extradition, though there are "enormous doubts" that Russia will comply. "Abashidze has powerful people lobbying for him, and I'm not even talking about [Moscow mayor Yury] Luzhkov, though he is certainly one of them," said Mr. Gabashvili. "Abashidze worked for the Russian special services, and I think that his rank is fairly high. They wanted to play him off against the new Georgian authorities, but in the end they couldn't. In any case, if Abashidze stays in Russia, he should know that his activities in Georgia are worth fifteen years of maximum security detention, and all of his comrades-in-arms should know that as well.
There is still another reason why Mr. Abashidze has nothing to fear regarding extradition: according to information obtained by Kommersant, soon after the ex-leader of Adjara fled to Moscow, he received Russian citizenship via a confidential order signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Jemal Gogitidze, a relative of Mr. Abashidze's and the former head of the Adjaran Interior Ministry who is also wanted by the Georgian authorities, said in an interview with Kommersant that "we have nothing to fear; many in Batumi have Russian passports."
Olga Allenova and Vladimir Novikov
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 23, 2007
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