If Juansher Burchuladze had wanted to cooperate, he could have cooperated from the very first day, and as you know, he has been serving his sentence for almost one year. As for Mr. Gharibashvili, I am sure that a certain dialogue may have existed between them regarding the said matter, lawyer of former Defence Minister Juansher Burchuladze, Levan Makharashvili, stated after the completion of the court hearing.

When asked whether Juansher Burchuladze gave testimony against former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili and whether this became the basis for concluding the plea agreement, the lawyer noted that “one of the circumstances was cooperation in this criminal case.”

In addition, when asked another question whether he has clarified information that communication took place between Gharibashvili and Juansher Burchuladze, the lawyer noted that, as far as is known to him, today’s plea agreement should not have been a surprise for Irakli Gharibashvili.

“A concrete answer to this can be given either by Mr. Gharibashvili or by Mr. Juansher, but as far as is known to me, various types of dialogue existed between them. Accordingly, this should not have been some kind of surprise and novelty. According to my information, it should not have been [a surprise for Gharibashvili]. It is possible that they had communication through lawyers,” the lawyer stated.

“As the prosecutor noted today when announcing the motion on the plea agreement, one of the circumstances was precisely cooperation in this criminal case.

In general, the essence of a plea agreement is that if a person cooperates with the investigation, the investigation can apply certain benefits provided for by law. Second, if Juansher Burchuladze had wanted to cooperate, he could have cooperated from the very first day, and as you know, he has been serving his sentence for almost one year. As for Mr. Gharibashvili, I am sure that a certain dialogue may have existed between them regarding the said matter. I can answer you about the information that I possess exactly; this concerns the legal results of this specific case, and after the plea agreement was concluded yesterday exactly under the conditions that were noted in the said protocol, it was approved by the court,” the lawyer stated.

As for the case in which Juansher Burchuladze is convicted of abuse of official authority and legalisation of illegal income and has been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, according to the lawyer’s information, the specific conditions of the plea agreement have not yet been agreed.

“The case is being considered in the Court of Appeal. Negotiations are also actively ongoing on this case as of today, but specific conditions have not yet been agreed. I am responsible for every word of mine after I became involved in this case. The first case was completed today with a plea agreement; the hearing on the next case is scheduled in the Court of Appeal for 28 September. The exact condition of the plea agreement has not been reached and accordingly there will be no talk from me about serious expectations. As soon as I know and a similar offer is made, I will definitely inform you publicly,” the lawyer stated.

He did not rule out that if the conditions of the plea agreement are reached earlier, the hearing in the Court of Appeal may be scheduled before 28 September.

When asked whether Juansher Burchuladze has expressed a desire to apply to President Kavelashvili with a request for pardon, or whether they may discuss this issue in the Udo Commission, the lawyer noted that today the judge also provided Juansher Burchuladze with information about this.

“Of course, he is aware of these rights, but we have not had a conversation on such a topic. We have not spoken about it at all,” the lawyer stated.