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Georgian Ex-Minister's TV Confession
The scandal over the arrest of former Georgian defense minister Irakly Okruashvili took an unexpected turn yesterday when state-controlled Rustavi 2 television aired footage of Okruashvili confessing to corruption and lying about Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The Prosecutor General has stated that Okruashvili can be freed on $6-million bail. Okruashvili's lawyers say his confession was obtained by force.
The former defense minister was arrested on September 27 on corruption charges after accusing Saakashvili of planning murders and shielding big business. In his televised confession, Okruashvili confesses to involvement in a number of crimes. “I partially acknowledge my guilt, since I did not fully control the situation at the Defense Ministry. I took part in the extortion of [cellular operator] Geocell stock,” Okruashvili stated.
Okruashvili did not stop with that. In the recording, he retracts his accusations against the president made on September 26 on the independent Imedi TV. “I do not confirm those facts. They do not correspond with reality,” the former minister said glumly. “Those statements were made by me to receive political dividends. They served to discredit President Saakashvili.”
The Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia reacted positively to Okruashvili's revelations. “On the basis of his confession of guilt to two of the accusations against him, Okruashvili appeared before the court, which decided to change the conditions oh his holding from two-months preliminary confinement to freedom on bail in the unprecedented sum in Georgia of 10 million lari [almost $6 million],” stated Nika Gvaramia, deputy prosecutor general, yesterday. He added that the politician will be released only after the payment of the sum indicated.
Okruashvili's confession enlivened the leaders of the pro-presidential United National Movement. General secretary David Kirkitadze dished out more accusations against Okruashvili yesterday, saying that he was planning a coup d'etat. “All those involved in that plan will be quickly found and caught,” Kirkitadze said.
One of the next targets of the authorities is likely to be Badri Patarkatsishvili, who has already been denounced for his close ties to Okruashvili. Maiya Nadiradze, leader of the United National Movement parliamentary faction, acknowledged yesterday that a criminal case may be initiated against him. “Badri Patarkatsishvili is a strange political figure who always strikes against the leadership of the country from the outside,” commented Nadiradze. Her ideas were echoed by influential fellow party member Giga Bokeria, who advised the businessman to stop “weaving intrigues with others' hands.” “That person should come out of the shadows and openly state his plans, all the more so since no one is persecuted for political reasons in Georgia,” Bokeria said.
Okruashvili's lawyers and members of his For a United Georgia Party refuse do not trust their leader's confession. They noted that the tireless critic of President Saakashvili looked very rundown in the tape and smoked nervously the whole time, from which they concluded that Okruashvili had been forced to speak against himself. “Not one of his lawyers was present at his questioning. We were not even informed that he would be questioned,” said former minister Eka Beselia yesterday. “The questioning took place on Saturday and Sunday and we didn't know about it.” Beselia noted that there was a lawyer with whom she is not acquainted present at Okruashvili's questioning. “Okruashvili was most likely questioned under pressure,” she concluded.
Supporters of the former minister have begun collecting finds for his bail to speed up the process of freeing him. Leader of the People's Party Koba Davitashvili urged the public to help. “Irakly Okruashvili is the hostage of a band of terrorists who are torturing him and demanding 10 million lari in bail. I urge everybody who can to collect the bail money: 1 lari, 10 lari or more. I personally will give what we have in my family – 1000 lari,” Davitashvili said.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 09, 2007
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