The Messenger, Georgia
Nov. 4, 2004

Mirtskhulava case goes to court, then delayed
By Mary Makharashvili

Davit Mirtskhulava sits in the courtroom cell
as lawyer Eka Beselia argues in his defense
(Photo by Mary Makharashvili)

The case against former Chair of the Energy Regulatory Commission and
Minister of Fuel and Energy Davit Mirtskhulava was finally brought to
court on Wednesday, one of the government’s first court proceedings
against a former government official.

But only twenty minutes after the Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi regional court
began hearing the case the judge announced that he was postponing it
until November 10 as the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence
to present to the court and had asked for additional time.

Although officials arrested Mirtskhulava in December 2003, prosecutors
said the final packet of evidence had not been prepared yet for the
court.

Despite poor health Davit Mirtskhulava attended the court proceedings
in the caged defendant’s booth. While walking into the court room he
showed a serious limp, thought to be a result of his ill health and a
heart attack earlier this year.

Although he did not have an opportunity to take questions from the
press, Mirtskhulava told a throng of reporters before the hearing
began: “I do not have a hope that any court in Georgia will decide this
case in my favor.”

“If the court is independent in Georgia I will be proven right, but if
not . . . ” he said from behind the cell block.

Before the hearing began Mirtskhulava’s lawyer Eka Beselia asked that
the court room be changed on the grounds that the one chosen was too
small with space for only 20 people. She said that as a result the
relatives of Mirtskhulava and other interested people could not attend
the hearing and were forced to wait in the corridor.

However, the judge said that there were not bigger rooms in the
building, and the hearing would have to be held in the room they were
in.

“The final accusations revealed by the investigation that the General
Prosecutor’s Office charges Mirtskhulava with, are as follows,” opened
Prosecutor Kakha Machavariani. “Abuse of power, and hiding secret
materials ”

“He is accused of abuse of power while Georgian Minister of Fuel and
Energy, which, as the Prosecutor’s Office states, seriously damaged the
country economically,” Eka Beselia explained to The Messenger.

In particular, the General Prosecutor’s Office named a contract agreed
with Armenergo during the period when Mirtskhulava was minister, which
the investigation claims is one-sided and artificially increased
Georgian Railway’s debt to Armenergo from USD 4 million to USD 6
million.

The investigation says that Mirtskhulava agreed to this in return for
certain benefits – namely, helping mediator company
Energomanqkorporatsia to embezzle 90 percent of the USD 6 million
transmitted from Georgian Railway. Georgia still had to pay the debt as
a result of the one-sided contract Mirtskhulava had signed.

“This agreement was signed by several people, but only Mirtskhulava is
accused,” Beselia complained. “The funny thing is that one of the
signatories of the same document is acknowledged as the victim of the
agreement and Mirtskhulava as guilty.”

Asked why the authority has not brought a case against the other people
who signed the agreement, Beselia said that the authority only wanted
Mirtskhulava to be imprisoned. She said that she will raise the issue
of the responsibility of the other signatories when the hearing
resumes.

Beselia said that Mirtskhulava’s defense has strong new arguments that
absolutely refute this accusation against Mirtskhulava.

As for the second charge against Mirtskhulava – that he took secret
materials relating to Georgia-Armenia criminal relationships from the
Energy Ministry and hid them in the office of the National Regulation
Commission – Beselia said that according to the law documents could
only be considered as hidden if Mirtskhulava had kept them at his
private home or some other place besides the state structures.

Beselia says that she will submit new evidence to the court that will
nullify all of these charges. “The accusations against Mirtskhulava are
both weak and groundless, but in spite of this we have amassed serious
evidence that we will present the court at the hearing. I hope that the
court procedures will not be false and unjust. The judge must manage to
remain free from pressure and to be impartial and objective,” said
Beselia.

The total sum that the Prosecutor’s Office requests Mirtskhulava pay is
over USD 2 million plus fines.

Mirtskhulava is the first high ranking official from the Shevardnadze
administration whose case has come to court, as most others who have
been charged by the General Prosecutor’s Office have preferred to pay
money for their freedom. Mirtskhulava, however, protests his innocence,
adding that he does not have enough money to buy his way out of jail.

“We want Mirtskhulava’s case to become the precedent of fighting
against untrue accusations and in this way proving the innocence of the
person. What the Prosecutor’s Office is doing is called official
racketeering,” said Beselia.

If the court finds Mirtskhulava guilty he faces twelve years
imprisonment, but as Beselia told The Messenger, they will not give up
and will fight to the end to prove the truth, even if the case goes up
to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg.