The Messenger, Georgia
June 2 2005

Mirtskhulava case enters appeal
Defense argues guilty verdict would put Georgia USD 6 million in debt
By Mary Makharashvili

David Mirtskhulava
During the first day of his appeal trial, former Minister of Fuel and
Energy Davit Mirtskhulava blasted prosecutors for carrying out an
investigation based on orders from higher-up.

He also questioned his imprisonment while other former officials walk
free. “I am the only government member still in prison. Have you ever
asked yourselves if I am the face of the government that you were
criticizing?,” he said.

On Wednesday Mirtskhulava’s appeal trial began at the District Court
of Tbilisi. His lawyers are demanding that the district court
overturn the ten year sentence handed down by the
Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi Regional Court on March 30.

During a speech to the court, Mirtskhulava accused the government of
pressuring him. He also accused the employees of the General
Prosecutor’s Office who, according to Mirtskhulava, admitted that he
is not guilty and that the investigation was based on a government
order.

According to the defense, there is no victim in the corruption case,
since Georgia has already paid its debt to the Armenia. They also
allege that if the verdict accusing Mirtskhulava is upheld, the
Armenian energy system will have a chance to demand anew the USD 6
million payment that is at the center of the government’s case.

Mirtskhulava’s defense also claims that the document authorizing this
payment was not signed by the former minister, but stamped “the
minister agreed” in his absence. According to the defense, he was not
in Georgia at the time.

Furthermore, Beselia told journalists on Tuesday that Mirtskhulava
was ordered to approve the repayment scheme, which was set up by
other agencies by a presidential decree.

She also pointed out that when Armenia first filed a case against the
Georgian state regarding the debt in 1999, Mirtskhulava was not a
minister and “Armenia lost the case both in Tbilisi District Court
and then in the Supreme Court of Georgia.”

The state claimed that in this case, the seal of a Georgian minister
did not mean that the state should pay this debt, since it was an
agreement between legal entities, Beselia stated. She added that in
bringing the current charges against Mirtskhulava, the prosecution
was admitting that the state was in fact responsible for the debt.

In her closing statements to the court earlier this year, Beselia
stated that Armenia has not requested the sum which was paid to an
intermediary but not transferred to Armenia. She also asked the court
why only her client was being charged.

“If this is a crime, where are the five people who signed this
agreement with Armenergo, including the former head of the Railway
Department Akaki Chkhaidze, the head of the Georgian Whole Sale
Electricity Market, the director of state owned Sakenergo or the
Marsh Corporation, which served as the intermediary,” she asked. “If
signing this agreement was a crime, grounds to jail a person and
demand a 12 year imprisonment, then why hasn’t the responsibility of
the others been raised?”

In his defense speech, Mirtskhulava said that there should have been
a more reasonable process. “I do not know when I will be free, but
when I gain freedom I will raise the issue of Judge Kharebava’s
responsibility as well as that of the prosecutor and everyone else
since they are really damaging the state. They are causing so much
damage they themselves cannot even calculate it,” he said.

“This is revenge justice. I am directly saying that today the quality
of your [the judge’s] independence is equal to nil. You will not be
independent while making a decision and no one can ask you to be a
hero,” the defendant said in an hour-long speech at the end of the
trial.

Addressing the media at the time, the prosecutor did not respond to
the remarks made in the defense’s three-hour address, saying only
“the defense is doing what it should do in such cases.”

Mirtskhulava was the first former high ranking official detained by
the General Prosecutor’s office following the Rose Revolution. After
a seven month investigation, the General Prosecutor’s Office charged
him with abuse of power, participating in a scheme to defraud the
state, and misappropriation of state documents. The crimes are
punishable by a 3-8 year term, a 5-10 year term and a prison term of
up to one year respectively.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress