The General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia issues a statement regarding the investigative activities conducted in the Central Election Commission regarding the verification machines.

As the Prosecutor's Office explains, along with other investigative actions, the voter verification machines used in the parliamentary elections were sealed in the administrative building of the Central Election Commission in order to ensure the security of the information on them.

According to the information of the prosecutor's office, since the investigation established that the verification devices work using complex computer programs, which were technologically and software provided by the company licensed in America - "Smartmatic", information retrieval from the verification devices and further expert studies will be carried out with the involvement of the said company.

The Prosecutor's Office calls on representatives of political parties to refrain from spreading unverified information.

"We would like to respond to the recent statements made publicly by the representatives of individual political parties, regarding the investigative activities conducted in the Central Election Commission in connection with the verification machines.

It is known to the public that the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia is conducting an investigation into the alleged falsification of the parliamentary elections, with signs of the crime provided for in Article 164³ of the Criminal Code of Georgia. Within the framework of the investigation, along with other investigative actions, the voter verification machines used in the parliamentary elections were sealed in the administrative building of the Central Election Commission in order to ensure the security of the information on them, for the purpose of further investigative and procedural actions.The legitimate purpose of the investigation is to request the information stored in the verification machines, which reflects the data of the voters announced at the polling stations, on the basis of the court ruling. After the request for information, it is planned to conduct a computer/technical examination, within the framework of which, among other things, it should be determined whether there was a voter duplication, as well as whether cases of voting in Georgia instead of persons abroad are recorded.Since the investigation found that the verification devices work using complex computer programs, which were technologically and software provided by the company licensed in America - Smartmatic, information retrieval from the verification devices and further expert studies will be carried out with the involvement of the mentioned company in order to ensure the storage and protection of the existing information as much as possible.

Here we inform the public that the interrogation of all the persons in the investigative body or the court, who may have any kind of information regarding the fact of the alleged fraud of the elections, continues in an intensive mode, including the employees of the CEC. Collection and analysis of relevant election-related information published in public sources is ongoing, appropriate examinations have been appointed in order to determine important circumstances for the case, documents and information have been requested, etc.

Thus, all investigative or procedural actions in the case are conducted in full compliance with the requirements established by the law. The Prosecutor's Office will periodically inform the public about the results of the investigation.

Here, we would like to call on the representatives of political parties to refrain from spreading unverified information, which has no legal basis and aims only to discredit the prosecutor's office and the ongoing investigation," reads the information released by the prosecutor's office.