Representatives of the diplomatic corps asked Tbilisi City Court Judge Tamar Makharoblidze to allow accredited representatives of the embassies to attend the court hearings in the so-called “sabotage case” as observers. Their request was denied.

The signatories of the letter are the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Embassy of France, the Embassy of the United Kingdom, the Embassy of Poland and the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia.

The authors of the appeal emphasize that, given the high level of interest in the case from both Georgian and international society, it would be appropriate to allow representatives of diplomatic missions to attend the hearings.

“To Tamar Makharoblidze, Judge of the Investigative, Pre-Trial Hearing and Merits Review Panel for Criminal Cases of Tbilisi City Court:

As we understand, criminal proceedings are currently pending before you against Mikheil Saakashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, Zurab Girchi Japaridze, Nika Gvaramia, Nikanor Melia, Mamuka Khazaradze, Badri Japaridze and Elene Khoshtaria on charges under Articles 317, 318, 319 and 321 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. We understand that the court hearings in the aforementioned criminal case have been closed to the public in order to maintain order.

Given the high level of interest in this case from both Georgian and international society, we kindly request that accredited representatives of our embassies in Georgia be allowed to attend the court hearings as observers. The observation of court proceedings by diplomatic representatives in cases of high public interest is a long-standing and widely recognized practice that contributes to transparency and enables interested international partners to directly familiarize themselves with the conduct of the proceedings. The attendance of such observers would be strictly limited to observation and would in no way affect the proper conduct of the court proceedings. Accordingly, we hope that the court will deem it appropriate to facilitate such observation in the above-mentioned case,” the appeal by representatives of the diplomatic corps reads.

As for the judge’s response, lawyers representing the defendants in the so-called “sabotage case” said that Judge Tamar Makharoblidze rejected the embassies’ request. The defense then filed a motion with the court requesting that their representatives be allowed to attend the hearings, making a request identical in substance to that of the diplomatic missions. According to the lawyers, the judge rejected their motion as well.