Tbilisi Mayor says he suspended from post
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Tbilisi City Court suspended Tbilsi Mayor Gigi Ugulava from his mayoral post, United National Movement members report through Facebook.
They write that the judge has accepted the prosecutions motion without attendance of the party representatives and after the hearing of the motion on detention. The defense is planning to appeal the decision.
"Unfortunately today, after midnight, something happened that we had been waiting for. Judge Dali Metreveli and the head of the Tbilisi City Court have come under the governmental pressure. Unfortunately, the court appeared in a difficult situation and suspended the Tbilisi Mayor, who had been elected by 55 percent of the city population, without giving him a possibility to answer the allegations, Ugulava wrote on his Facebook page.
He added that this decision serves as an indicator of the governments purposes to paralyze the local government in Tbilisi until the local government elections.He also thanked his colleagues and said the fight goes on.
The courts decision means that Tbilisi will be without the mayor until the local government elections that are scheduled in June.
The Georgian prosecution asked the Tbilisi City Court to order pre-trial detention and suspend Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava, who has been charged with embezzlement of GEL 48 million GEL (28 million USD) of public money.
The Tbilisi City Court did not grand the Prosecutors motion about the Mayors detention on todays hearing and sentenced Ugulava with a fine of 50 thousand GEL. As for the second motion, the lawyer of Uulava said today that it would be heard by another judge but not decided when. However, as Ugulava claims, later in the night today the court suspended him.
The Prosecutor's Office has not released any information about the case yet.
"Today, for the first time during the last nine years, we have a court that is more or less fully independent and free.” These were the words of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibahsvili when he answered the questions of local and international journalists today.
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