Ex-official charged with plotting murder of Georgian tycoon Patarkatsishvili leaves prison

A judge in Tbilisi City Court has released ex-official of Interior Ministry Giorgi Merebashvili from pre-trial detention, as his pretrial term expired today and the judge refused to prolong it.

The decision of the judge is belated but fair. I hope that the court will also make a justified decision to me in the future [when the trial begins],” Merebashvili said.

The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office said in October 2018 that they were in possession of recordings which prove that the previous, United National Movement leadership was plotting to kill Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, who was found dead at his Surrey mansion in England on 12 February 2008.

A former official of the Constitutional Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the United National Movement government, Merebashvili was detained at the time, while two other former top figures of the same agency were charged.

Patarkatsishvili was in open confrontation with the United National Movement and had to flee the country in 2007, after mass rallies against the UNM.

The UK police were unable to find evidence proving that Patarkatsishvili was murdered. A A heart attack was named as the possible reason of death.