Prosecutor’s Office releases details of investigation into Georgian archpriest case

The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia today released the intermediate results of its ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to murder a high-ranking clergy member of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The state office said the investigation showed that suspect archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze had planned to assassinate Shorena Tetruashvili, Secretary of the Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II.

The official statement alleged Mamaladze had obtained the poisonous substance cyanide to carry out the assassination of Tetruashvili who was accompanying Ilia II as the latter was undergoing medical treatment in Germany last month.

The announcement by the Prosecutor’s Office detailed measures carried out within its investigative effort, including the questioning of over thirty witnesses and forensic examination of information-carrying devices.

It included a description of Mamaladze’s efforts to obtain cyanide in talks with his acquaintance Irakli Mamaladze, whose whistleblowing appeal to the Georgian police launched the case on February 2.

The state agency said the suspect had discussed the poisonous effects of cyanide with his contact and means of obtaining it, all secretly recorded by the police on concealed camera used by Irakli Mamaladze during his February 4 meeting with the suspect.

The Prosecutor’s Office released the video through its official website along with the detailed review of facts obtained through the investigation.

The office also said archpriest Mamaladze had failed to provide "credible answers” to "any of the significant questions” asked by investigators about the case, while information provided by the suspect was in "direct contradiction” with evidence.

Mamaladze was arrested on February 10 at Tbilisi International Airport, with police discovering cyanide during a search.

Law enforcement agencies claimed the arrested archpriest was planning to travel to Germany, where Patriarch of Georgia Ilia II was undergoing a laparoscopic gallbladder surgery at a Berlin clinic.

The patriarch’s secretary Shorena Tetruashvili was also in Germany during the medical treatment of Ilia II.