Prosecutor’s Office reveals details of ex-president's case

Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has released a special statement outlining details of the criminal case against Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili and former government members, citing "high public interest”. 

The statement, released this evening stated about 100 witnesses had been questioned since the investigation began on October 25, 2013.

"The case materials are followed with several video materials, reports from different expertise and other important documents. The documents collected by the investigation accounts for 80 chapters in total," the Office stated.

Evidence was handed to the defence lawyers yesterday in accordance with the Criminal Code of Georgia.

"Accordingly, the defence side's statement about an absence of evidence two days after they were provided with them is not serious and has the only purpose of misinforming society,” the Office claimed.

In the statement, the Office further explained that further research of evidence will occur in court and the court is the institution which will assess the relevance and reliability of the evidence.

In addition, the Chief Prosecutor's Office claimed the charge against Saakashvili was issued before his ally, former Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze, was questioned since "investigators had enough firm evidence [against Saakashvili] even without questioning her, in which provided a reason to suggest that Mikheil Saakashvili committed the offence he has been was charged for".

Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office officially filed criminal charges against Saakashvili on July 28. The criminal case pertains to violent dispersal of anti-governmental mass protests on November 7, 2007; unlawful raiding of Imedi TV by riot police and illegal take-over of property owned by late media tycoon Badri (Arkadi) Patarkatsishvili.