Soso Gogashvili: I confirm the fact of pressure mentioned by Besarion Alavidze in the interview, this was done by the State Security Service following the request by Mikheil Chinchaladze

I confirm the fact of pressure mentioned by Besarion Alavidze in the interview. This was done by the State Security Service following the request by Mikheil Chinchaladze, the former deputy head of State Security Service, Soso Gogashvili, says in an address posted on the social network.

According to Soso Gogashvili, after Mikheil Chinchaladze failed to get his consent to deliver a judgement desirable for the Dream decision on the Rustavi 2 case, he involved "heavy artillery" in the case.

"An extraordinary meeting was held at the Bidzina Ivanishvili business center, where it was decided that we – the State Security Service – had to be involved in the case. We received the corresponding assignment from Ivanishvili - in order to achieve the desired decision relating to Alavidze, we had to offer him a permanent job, monetary bonus and inviolability. All this had to be done by manipulating state interests, creating problems in case of refusal.

An official in the State Security Service, who had known him for a long time and had a good relationship with him, was assigned to meet Alavidze and convince him. The meetings took place several times and they were recorded. The audio recordings of this meetings were then brought by an officer to me and I sent them to Chinchaladze.

Since Besarion Alavidze dared and began to expose facts, I urge him to speak all the truth and tell everything about these meetings.

I also call on the officer, who still works on a high position in the State Security Service (as far as I am informed), to tell the truth and expose the dirty system. I know that you are a patriot and I know that you want to serve Georgia and not Putin's dream," Gogashvili says in his address.

For information, the former judge, Besarion Alavidze, in an interview with the Mtavari TV, talked about the facts of the pressure exerted on judges.

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