Lawyer to ex-Government officials arrested

A Georgian lawyer who has represented numerous former high officials, has been arrested for abuse of power, but the accused believes his arrest is politically motivated. 

Attorney Goga Oniani, a former police official and defence attorney, was arrested late last night. During his law career, he has represented the now-imprisoned ex-Defense Minister, former prison system chief Bacho Akhalaia and other ex-government officials.

Georgia’s Prosecutor's Office has not made any statement detailing Oniani’s charges however Oniani’s defence lawyer Davit Dekanoidze said his client was accused of abuse of authority when he held the position of deputy chief of police in one of Tbilisi’s districts.

Dekanoidze said the accusations against Oniani were in connection with a dated drugs-related case when police arrested one citizen for drugs.

At the time, Oniani served as the deputy head of Gldani-Nadzaladevi district police department. He has been accused of planting drugs on a person and creating a reason for that person to be arrested, Dekanoidze said as he left the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ so-called Moduli building after meeting with Oniani.

Despite saying this, he believed Oniani's arrest was linked with other "recent events”, and as a result, the attorney was "unacceptable for the Prosecutor's Office”.

Meanwhile Oniani believed his arrest was "definitely politically motivated”. He told journalists he intended to participate in the upcoming self-government elections and planned to challenge for the majoritarian seat in Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo). He believed when the authorities found out about this, his former subordinates were interrogated and forced to testify falsely against him.

"They were thrown in a miserable situation and forced to write nonsense about me," he said, adding about 15 people were questioned.

The Prosecutor’s Office were due to make an official statement today at noon.