Ex-PM Merabishvili left trial in protest
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The ex-Prime Minister and former interior minister of Georgia Vano Merabishvili requested to leave the trial in protest of the witnesses testimony.
According to the ex-prime minister, who is facing the number of criminal charges, the witnesses are talking about everything except his guilt. In the court, Vano Merabishvili also stated the Ukrainian ex-prime minister Iulia Timoshenko and he have the same fate as political inmates.
"I want to express my support towards the Ukrainian people. Our nations are close friends. I want to wish Iulia Timoshenko to be courageous in the prison. Im sure we both will lead our countries to the European integration. said Vano Merabishvili.
The ex-minister is charged with misappropriation of private property and embezzlement of 158,000 GEL ($90,942 USD) in 2009, when he served as interior minister. Merabishvili is also charged with exceeding authority with aggravated circumstances in connection to the dispersal of a peaceful protest rally in the center of Tbilisi on May 26, 2011.
Former Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili and Zurab Tchiaberashvili, who at the time was Minister of Heath and former governor of the Kakheti region, have been found guilty in the so called ‘employment’ case.
Georgia’s former Interior and Prime Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili is scheduled to leave prison on February 20, 2020.