Lawyer says man who attacked microfinance company held lighter, not weapon, calls perp ‘victim of gambling’
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A lawyer says that Levan Zurabashvili, who attacked MBC microfinance company yesterday and took hostages there, held a lighter, not a weapon, and that the man is a victim of gambling.
It was not robbery as he demanded no money, he was demanding changes that could benefit the whole population of the country. It was a type of performance by him," said the lawyer.
Before his arrest, Zurabashvili demanded the prohibition of gambling throughout Georgia, for banks to limit interest rate on loans to seven per cent annually and the interest rate of already issued loans to be brought down to seven per cent, and decrease the price of medications and pharmacies to only be allowed to receive 10 per cent profits out of selling medicines.
The lawyer said that Zurabashvili was a ‘victim of gambling’.
Police confirm that all nine hostages in central Tbilisi, employees of microcredit company MBC, have been freed after negotiations with the attacker. The attacker, who announced three demands, has been arrested.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has announced today that the armed attacker on the Bank of Georgia branch in the western town of Zugdidi has been identified. However, the ministry calls on all media outlets and the public not to reveal the identity or a photograph of the offender, in case they somehow happen to receive information, in order not to interfere in the police investigation.
Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri has confirmed that the attacker on the Bank of Georgia Zugdidi branch yesterday took money from the bank and it was not state money as some media outlets said. Gomelauri stated that everything is being done to detain the offender. "Our primary goal was to save the hostages. Now [we are doing all we can] to detain the offender and hold him accountable,” Gomelauri said.
The de facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region say the man who held up a Bank of Georgia branch in Zugdidi yesterday will not be allowed into the region. Sputnik cites the de facto authorities as saying that the attacker has not been mentioned near the occupied region so far. The attacker, who demanded half a million USD, released a Georgian regional police officer and the last three hostages in the forest of Kirtskhi village in Chkhotortsu municipality, near the Russian-occupied Abkhazia region.
Attacker of microfinance organisation Levan Zurabashvil, who took hostages and demanded changes to the country’s legislation concerning loan issuance and gambling, has been denied bail.
Brother of Badri Esebua, the Zugdidi bank robber who took hostages and escaped with half a million USD, was detained yesterday for the illegal purchase and possession of firearms and ammunition.
Police have detained two individuals in Tbilisi earlier today who had plans to break in and rob a Spar supermarket on Chitaia street in Chugureti district.
The rape of a minor will be sentenceable to life imprisonment in Georgia, Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri stated in parliament earlier today.
Georgian Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri has stated that he has reliable information that Badri Esebua, the Zugdidi bank robber who took hostages, escaped with half a million USD and has been hiding for eight months, is still in Georgia.