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Patarkatsishvili Imprisoned in Absentia
A Tbilisi court has sentenced Georgian businessman and former presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili to two months' preliminary confinement. Patarkatsishvili was not present at the court session. If he does not turn himself in to Georgian authorities within a month, an international arrest warrant will be issued for him. A Georgian warrant was issued for him yesterday. Patarkatsishvili's lawyer, Shalva Shavgulidze, said that they would appeal the court ruling and would argue that any attempts to extradite Patarkatsishvili from Great Britain or Israel are politically motivated.
Patarkatsishvili was represented by a lawyer at the court session, which was closed to the press. The Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia is accusing Patarkatsishvili of conspiring to overthrow the state (punishable by up to eight years in prison), preparing an attack on a person holding political office (up to 20 years) and preparing a terrorist act (from 10 to 15 years). The charges are based on audio and video recordings made of talks he held with Irakly Kodua, head of the special operations depart of the Georgian Interior Ministry. Kodua was acting with the authorities' knowledge.
Patarkatsishvili is unlikely to receive any support from the rest of Georgia's political opposition. Former presidential candidate Irina Sarishvili told Kommersant that “The opposition has little interest in Patarkatsishvili's fate, since his talks with Kodua were the result of clinical stupidity, which did great damage to the prestige of the opposition.” United opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze stated, “We are all sick of Patarkatsishvili. He is apparently playing some dirty game along with the authorities.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 17, 2008
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