Why is a plea agreement being concluded in the case of more episodes, when in the conditions of a lesser charge a plea agreement was not concluded? Because they were holding them as hostages and the only condition and demand of the prosecution side was not for Burchuladze and Mkheidze to admit something – this interested them less; they wanted to put a hand on Irakli Gharibashvili, lawyer of former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, Lili Gelashvili, told InterpressNews in connection with the plea agreement of Juansher Burchuladze and Vasil Mkheidze.

According to Gelashvili, Irakli Gharibashvili had not raised his voice until now and was protecting his team, but, as the lawyer stated, it was precisely this team that sacrificed the former prime minister.

“Even before the giving of testimony we already understood; it was not very difficult to guess in which direction the case was going, what interest there was and what would happen. In July, when a letter was sent to him and certain things were conveyed to him, it was written there that there was a probability that he would return to politics and a risk that if Irakli Gharibashvili still had any authority left, they had to destroy it.

In the conditions of the charges that Juansher Burchuladze and Vasil Mkheidze had, when the first conviction was delivered and they were sentenced to ten years of imprisonment, now the charge has become more serious for them. The question is very logical – why is a plea agreement being concluded in the case of more episodes, when in the conditions of a lesser charge, especially when there was also readiness from the side of the accused, why was a plea agreement not concluded? Because they were holding them as hostages and their [the prosecution side’s] only condition and demand was not for [Burchuladze and Mkheidze] to admit something – this interested them less; they wanted to put a hand on Irakli Gharibashvili and this demand was so high that before the verdict was delivered on the first charge, a plea agreement exonerated was easier to conclude and they did not conclude it, and now, when they sentenced them to 10 years of imprisonment, they did not hesitate and in the conditions of an additional charge concluded a plea agreement and did not even halve the sentence, but left them a third of the sentence. Then, probably, something else will concern them, early release or something similar.

I understand why such a deal was made with the prosecution side and why this is political persecution against Irakli Gharibashvili.

Irakli Gharibashvili is already convicted today. Do you think he accepted all of this with laughter and calm? He was going through very great emotional pressure, pain, feelings, but as a counterweight he chose that this should not be perceived, even any of his statements, as if he was fighting someone with something, so that it would not be directed against ‘Georgian Dream’ and Bidzina Ivanishvili, because he very well realised that he did not want to go against the team of which he was the first person twice. He had his responsibility expanded and even against my opposition that there should be no deal in exchange for silence under certain conditions, he still went for this and did all of this, and that letter which he later received was a turning point. The team that he was protecting so carefully sacrificed him. They wanted to destroy him to the end. This was the reason that he started writing these letters,” Lili Gelashvili stated.

When asked whether Irakli Gharibashvili knew that Burchuladze and Mkheidze would give testimony against him and whether they had communication with each other in prison regarding this, Gelashvili ruled out their prior communication and stated that Irakli Gharibashvili expected the giving of testimony against him.

“The relationship of Gharibashvili and Burchuladze in prison is ruled out just as Gharibashvili’s relationship with other prisoners is ruled out, but that he expected this, more than that – he was sure and after this he started writing letters. When something was conveyed to him by a letter sent to him in prison, they told him directly with this that they must do this in order to hedge against his return to politics. He understood that no one would put a hand for nothing unless they received certain and serious benefits in return. Therefore, we not only had an expectation, we were sure that it would be so. He had no specific reaction regarding Burchuladze; he had more of a reaction to the fact. In the letters he said that in reality a fight against corruption is not ongoing, but an internal political fight is ongoing and they are specifically fighting him. Proceeding from this, he considered that whether they were guilty or not, specific persons were being persecuted because of him,” she noted.

When asked whether Juansher Burchuladze’s testimony, which he gave against Irakli Gharibashvili, is in the case materials, the lawyer stated that precisely on the basis of this testimony a new charge was brought against the former prime minister.

“In the materials of the case regarding the new charge that was brought against Irakli Gharibashvili, Juansher Burchuladze’s testimony against him is indeed present. On the basis of this testimony the charge was brought; accordingly, to the question whether we had an expectation of this, of course we had, we expected that a plea agreement would take place. This action, putting a hand on a lie in this way, would only be based on the fact that he would receive a certain benefit,” Lili Gelashvili stated.