Ex-official, now opposition leader Okruashvili, other former official charged in high-profile case

Former Interior Minister and current opposition leader Irakli Okruashvili has been charged with misuse of authority in the high profile murder case of Buta Robakidze back in 2004, under the United National Movement leadership.

Former Chief Prosecutor Zurab Adeishviili has also faced a similar charge in the case.

Okruashvili is now in pretrial detention for “incitement to violence” during the June protests in Tbilisi earlier this year.

The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that Robakidze and five others were stopped by a patrol police crew late on November 24, 2004. During a check a patrol officer’s accidentally went off, resulting in the death of Robakidze at the scene.

The Prosecutor’s Office reports that “to save the image of the patrol police [which was newly introduced in the country at that time] Okruashvili instructed his employees to say that Robakidze and five others in the car were armed and they attacked police.

To achieve the goal arms were planted in the car and Robakhidze and five others were declared as members of an armed, criminal group,” the Prosecutor’s Office says.

The Prosecutor’s Office stated that, through the instruction of former Chief Prosecutor Adeishvili, the five individuals in the car were charged with membership in a criminal group.

Okruashvili and Adeishvili [who is now wanted] face three to eight years in prison if the charge is confirmed.