“Vakhtang Gomelauri will have to answer critical questions. In his witness statement, Gomelauri says that he did not know about the Chorchana checkpoint,” Berdia Sichinava, the lawyer of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, said.

At present, former Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri is testifying at the Tbilisi City Court.

“Several witnesses remain to be questioned by the prosecution, but the questioning of the key witness is still ahead - Vakhtang Gomelauri, who at the time served as head of the State Security Service. How is it possible that in an occupied country, the head of the State Security Service, who monitors the situation in the country through every available means, both overt and covert, did not know about the situation that had been developing in Chorchana since January 2019? And how could the State Security Service not have known first about the construction of roads in Chorchana and then about the construction of the checkpoint? Of course, Vakhtang Gomelauri had this information. Moreover, it was not only Gomelauri who had this information - the entire government cabinet had it, including the State Security Service.

The information provided by Vakhtang Gomelauri to the investigation does not stem from the case materials or from objective reality. Vakhtang Gomelauri will have to answer critical questions, because there is no one in this country who would believe that, in an occupied country, the Defense Minister, to whom military intelligence reports, as well as the State Security Service and the heads of the security agencies, did not know that a checkpoint was being built in Chorchana.

In his witness statement, Gomelauri says that he did not know about the checkpoint and that, supposedly, the State Security Service was not aware of it. Based on the information he himself provided, Gomelauri effectively admitted that for these six or seven years he had concealed the State Security Service’s failure to address this challenge and had not disclosed information related to the alleged crime... After that, Mr. Gomelauri was part of the government cabinet together with Giorgi Gakharia and served as his minister,” Sichinava said.

He also responded to a new letter by former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, in which he discusses Giorgi Gakharia.

“I want to tell Garibashvili, who is lying on his bed, that no matter how many tantrums he throws in an attempt to make Ivanishvili like him again by attacking Gakharia, it simply will not work. I remember Garibashvili’s legacy very well. I do not want to engage in a polemic with a prisoner right now, but he is a corrupt person whose home was found to contain several million dollars. I can characterize his premiership in a few words: the first thing he did after Gakharia’s resignation was lift the COVID restrictions, and 9,000 people who died from COVID are on his conscience. He gave forests to his wife, sent his son on charter flights, appointed people who stole from the budget to positions in the Defense Ministry and took shares from it, and now he is talking about patriotism. He should lie down and wait for Ivanishvili’s favor again. He certainly will not receive Ivanishvili’s favor through letters like these. However, given how shameless he is, I am sure he would sign anything, as long as Ivanishvili rewards him with a single smile,” Sichinava said.

For reference, former Interior Minister and former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has been charged in the so-called Chorchana case under Article 333, Part 2, which concerns the abuse of official powers by a political officeholder and carries a sentence of three to five years in prison.

According to the indictment, Giorgi Gakharia unilaterally decided to establish an additional police checkpoint near the village of Chorchana along the occupation line. As a result, approximately 100 hectares of forest came under the control of the occupying forces, various illegal activities and the movement of heavy military equipment toward populated areas took place, and the homes of residents of the Kobi and Tsnelisi villages in Khashuri Municipality also came under the control of the occupying forces.