NEWS

Lawyer says man who attacked microfinance company held lighter, not weapon, calls perp ‘victim of gambling’

Levan Zurabashvili attacked MBC microfinance company yesterday and took hostages.

Agenda.ge, 21 Nov 2020 - 11:03, Tbilisi,Georgia

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’.

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De facto Abkhazia says man who attacked Bank of Georgia branch in Zugdidi won’t be allowed into occupied region

22 Oct 2020

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.

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23 Nov 2020

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.

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23 Jun 2021

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.