Tbilisi City Court has sentenced former Prime Minister and leader of the “Gakharia for Georgia” party, Giorgi Gakharia, to imprisonment in absentia in connection with the June 20 protest case.

The decision was announced a few minutes ago by Judge Irakli Khuskivadze.

The motion for pretrial detention was submitted by prosecutor Mariam Gigauri, and the judge granted the prosecution’s request.

According to the prosecutor, on June 20, 2019, Giorgi Gakharia, disregarding instructions and legislation, ordered employees of the Special Tasks Department to use special means jointly and simultaneously, without any prior warning or giving peaceful demonstrators the opportunity to leave the area, thereby organizing intentional harm to citizens’ health. As she noted, as a result of the combined use of special means, including rubber bullets, dozens of citizens sustained injuries of varying severity; two people lost their eyesight, and five suffered severe health damage.

The defense did not agree with the prosecution’s motion, arguing that Giorgi Gakharia faces an absurd accusation based on non-existent evidence. According to Gakharia’s lawyer, Berdia Sichinava, the Prosecutor’s Office is being used as an instrument by Bidzina Ivanishvili to take revenge on the former prime minister.

As is known, Giorgi Gakharia had already been sentenced to pretrial detention in absentia in the so-called Chorchana episode.

The Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against the former prime minister in both cases yesterday.

Gakharia is charged under Article 25, Article 117, Part 3, Subparagraph “m,” and Article 333, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which carry a sentence of up to 13 years of imprisonment.