Court sentences ex-Interior Minister Akhalaia to 7 1/2 years in prison
Tweet 
Share
Tbilisi City Court has today sentenced Georgia’s former Interior Minister Bachana (Bacho) Akhalaia to seven years and six months in prison. Akhalaia previously served as the country's Defence Minister and head of Penitentiary Department of the Justice Ministry.
In Court today the Judge found Akhalaia guilty of two charges while delivered a verdict of not guilty for one charge.
Akhalaia was found guilty of torturing prisoners in the 2006 Navtlugi Special Operation case. The ex-official was also found guilty of abusing authority when "he gave privileged prison conditions” to ex-officials arrested for the Girgvliani murder case. The Court delivered a verdict of not guilty for Akhalaia in his charge of exceeding official authority.
Akhalaia has been in pre-trial detention since November 2012. Before receiving a guilty verdict today, he was acquitted in several separated cases.
At today’s sitting, a seven and a half year prison sentence was also delivered to former head of the Military Police Department Megis Kardava. He was found guilty of torture and exceeding his authority.
Moreover, two other former Interior Ministry officials, Levan Kardava and Giorgi Mazmishvili, were found guilty of intended murder in burdensome circumstances in the same Navtlugi Special Operation case. They were sentenced to 11 years in jail. The same charges will be filed against Akhalaia’s brother Data Akhalaia, who used to chair the Interior Ministry’s Constitutional Security Department. D. Akhalaia was currently in hiding in Greece.
B. Akhalaia did not attend today’s court sitting. His wife Ani Nadareishvili wrote on Facebook last night they would not participate in this "farce”. She said she believed the Government would put pressure on the court and the court would deliver a guilty verdict against her husband.
Prosecutor’s Office officials said today there was strong proof against Akhalaia in this case and his family knew he would be found guilty, and tried to blame the Government instead of accepting his role in the crimes. Meanwhile, Akhalaia’s lawyer said he would appeal today’s decision, while the Prosecutor’s Office said it would also appeal Akhalaia's not guilty sentence.
In the Navtlugi Special Operation case, the Prosecutor’s Office said Akhalaia and Kardava tortured prisoners in order to gain confessions about a planned mass prison-break. Three men were killed in this operation in 2006.
Former Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaia and senior Ministryofficial Megis Kardava face new charges related to torture and abuse of authority.
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office have brought new charges against the country’s former Defence Minister Bachana (Bacho) Akhalaia today.
A Greek court of law is refusing to extradite a former Georgian high official to his homeland to face charges related to the 2006 murder of bank worker Sandro Girgvliani and abuse of a policeman in 2005.
The Supreme Court has upheld a verdict acquitting Georgia’s former Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia of inhumane treatment of army personnel.
Georgia’s Prime Minister believes the country's justice system "triumphed” when it delivered an unbiased verdict in the high-profile Navtlugi murder case.
The Judge of the trial of former government high official Bachana (Bacho) Akhalaia received an abusive text message from Georgian United National Movement (UNM) Parliament Member (MP) Akaki Minashvili following Akhalaia’s guilty verdict.
The High Council of Justice of Georgia has strongly condemned the actions of an opposition Member of Parliament (MP) in which he sent an "abusive” text message to a Tbilisi City Court Judge.
The Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia has laid new charges against the former president of Georgia in connection with the notorious case of kidnapping, torture and murder of Sandro Girgvliani in 2006.
A former police official has spoken out in a court of law saying he was forced by top figures of the previous government to find false eye witnesses in the wake of a brutal murder of three youth in 2006.
Today Tbilisi City Court sentenced two former top police officials of the United National Movement government to 9-12 years behind bars for exceeding official powers, murder and fabricating evidence in a notorious case that claimed three lives in 2006.
The Tbilisi City Court has sent Georgia’s former Minister of Defence under the United National Movement leadership, Bacho Akhalaia, to prison for nine years for a high-profile torture case involving Colonel Sergo Tetradze in 2011.
The Georgian Supreme Court has left the previous verdict the Tbilisi City Court in power and said that two former high-rank officials, under the United National Movement leadership, are guilty in the murder of three young men back in 2006.
Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Georgia’s former head of the Constitutional Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, David Akhalaia to seven years and six months in prison today for the murder of Sandro Gvirgvliani back in 2006.
Georgian Supreme Court has upheld a guilty verdict against former Defence Minister of Georgia Bacho Akhalia for torture, causing death of colonel Sergo Tetradze back in 2011, under the United National Movement government.