The hearing of the case of Malkhaz Paksashvili, a citizen of Georgia and one of the leaders of the terrorist organization Islamic State, is underway in the Tbilisi City Court.

The session is being held in closed mode, since the case is classified.

As prosecutor Maia Silagadze told journalists before the session, the prosecution requests the detention of Malkhaz Paksashvili as a preventive measure.

"This person was arrested on the basis of a court order, and the prosecution has already applied to the court to send him the the detainee as a preventive measure. As for the evidence, the prosecution has obtained a number of pieces of evidence, including video footage, which prove that the accused joined an international terrorist organization and participated in combat operations," said Maia Silagadze.

As for when Malkhaz Paksashvili crossed the border of Georgia, as the prosecutor explains, the case is classified and they will not talk about all the details publicly.

"However, a few years ago, he indeed crossed the state border of Georgia, and after that, evidence was obtained that he had been in the territory of Syria and participated in the actions of a terrorist organization in Syria," said Maia Silagadze.

As a result of a special operation carried out by the Counter-Terrorism Center of the State Security Service, on the basis of a court ruling, a leader of one of the groups of the terrorist organization Islamic State, Georgian citizen Malkhaz Paksashvili was arrested.

According to the State Security Service, as a result of the joint measures of the Counter-Terrorism Center, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was established that the mentioned person left Georgia in 2013, went to Syria and joined the Islamic State.

"In 2013-2015, he was enrolled in the so-called "Military Emirs", a group of brothers Cesar and Tsiskara Tokhosashvili, and took an active part in the attacks and military operations carried out by the said terrorist organization. The detainee had close ties with the high-ranking military commanders of the Islamic State and held the position of the "naib” in one of the groups of the said terrorist organization”, reads the statement released by the State Secuirty Service.