Tbilisi City Court imposes pre-trial detention on Kezerashvili

Tbilisi City Court has imposed pre-trial detention on Georgia’s former Minister of Defence David Kezerashvili while he faces charges for extortion of property.

Kezerashvili is accused of extorting private businesses from local business owner Tamaz Nizharadze and his son, who jointly owned Poti Port Oil terminal and two other businesses.

The total value of the property that Kezerashvili is alleged to have extorted from Nizharadze amounted to tens of millions of GEL, said the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.

If Kezerashvili is found guilty, he will face a prison sentence of four to seven years.

As well as this, the ex-official currently faces criminal charges in Georgia regarding two other cases - for allegedly embezzling more than €5 million (12 million GEL) and  in the other case, for misappropriating millions of state funds and money laundering.

Kezerashvili is wanted internationally through INTERPOL’s Red Notice but despite this the former Minister lives in France.

On February 27, 2015, a court in Aix-en-Provence in southern France ruled against the extradition of Kezerashvili.