The Tbilisi City Court remanded businessman Tamaz Elizbarashvili in custody as a preventive measure.

Tamaz Elizbarashvili was also present at the hearing. He is charged with threatening to take a person’s life and cause bodily harm.

The defense requested that the defendant be released without a preventive measure and, alternatively, offered bail in the amount of GEL 20,000. However, Judge Arsen Kalatozishvili granted the Prosecutor’s Office’s motion to remand him in custody.

The Prosecutor’s Office cited the risks of the defendant absconding, influencing witnesses, and committing a new offense as grounds for seeking his detention.

The defense, for its part, argued that none of the risks cited by the prosecution were expected from Tamaz Elizbarashvili. As for the Prosecutor’s Office’s claim that Elizbarashvili returned to the scene of the incident armed, the defense disputes this. According to his lawyer, Tamaz Elizbarashvili did not have a weapon and “he put his hand near his heart due to his health condition.”

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia charged Tamaz Elizbarashvili with making threats. According to the investigation, on August 30 of this year, a verbal altercation took place between Elizbarashvili and one of the victims at a restaurant in Tbilisi over a comment posted on social media. According to the agency, Elizbarashvili threatened the victims with killing them and causing bodily harm. Later, allegedly intending to carry out the threat, he returned to the location armed and attempted to enter the restaurant.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, on August 31, the defendant also posted a video statement on social media in which he continued making threats.