Tbilisi City Court has upheld the detention imposed in absentia on former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia as a restrictive measure.

The decision was made by Judge Arsen Kalatozishvili.

The case concerned the so-called Chorchana episode.

For information, according to the Prosecutor's Office, Giorgi Gakharia made the decision to establish an additional police checkpoint along the occupation line near the village of Chorchana unilaterally. As the indictment explains, the aforementioned actions were used by representatives of the occupation regime as a pretext for actions against the territorial integrity of Georgia. In particular, on September 5, 2019, illegal armed formations of the de facto Tskhinvali regime occupied heights in the territory controlled by the Georgian authorities.

“About one hundred hectares of forest ended up under the control of the occupation forces. Various illegal activities took place, including the movement of heavy military equipment towards settlements, which created a real threat of armed conflict between the parties. The occupied territory also included residential houses of the residents of the villages of Obi and Tsnelisi of the Khashuri municipality,” the prosecutor’s office said.

Giorgi Gakharia was charged under Articles 25, 117, Part 3, Subparagraph “m” and Article 333, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provides for up to 13 years of imprisonment as a form and measure of punishment.

It is noteworthy that in addition to the so-called Chorchana episode, criminal prosecution against former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia is also underway in another case - the episode of the dispersal of the June 20 rally.