Civic movement posts bail for suspects in Georgia-Azerbaijan ‘land forfeit’ case
Melashvili and Ilichova will not be able to leave the country before the court delivers a verdict in the case. Photo: RFE/RL.
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Money has been collected to fully post bail for Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilichova, who are charged in the Georgia-Azerbaijan ‘land forfeit’ high profile case, the civic movement Sirtskhvilia (Geo. Shame) stated yesterday after the release of the suspects.
Melashvili and Ilichova were released on 20,000 GEL bail each on January 28.
After the release, the civic movement Sirtskhvilia (Geo. Shame) called on the public to collect money for Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilichova in order to cover the bail.
Within two hours of publishing the bank account number on the official page of the civic movement, 40,000 GEL was collected.
The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office requested bail for the two individuals and stated that there was no need for pretrial detention.
Melashvili and Ilichova will not be able to leave the country before the court delivers a verdict in the case.
On January 21 the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office stated that Melashvili ‘was forced’ to sign the border agreement back in 2006 and released a video recorded in Melashvili’s working room.
An official statement of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office says that Melashvili, the former head of the Department for Border Relations with Neighbouring Countries and Ilichova, former Chief Inspector of the Land Border Protection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, hid the original map of 1938 from the border commission members (which was chaired by Melashvili) and instead used a 1970-80 map in the process of demarcating the border.
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The suspects do not admit to the crime and say that the map was ‘worthless’ and was rejected in 2006-2007.
The opposition says that Melashvili and Ilichova are ‘political prisoners.’
One of the leaders of the European Georgia opposition party Sergi Kapanadze said that the Georgian Dream government ‘is likely to have plans to detain some former officials.’
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union back in 1991, out of its four neighboring states Georgia has agreed upon its borders only with Turkey.
Only two-thirds of the state border has been agreed upon with Azerbaijan so far, which on several occasions triggered tension in David Gareji back in 2019.
Two former officials in the high-profile Georgia-Azerbaijan border case, Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilichova, have been denied bail earlier today by Tbilisi City Court despite the presence of 214 guarantors, including politicians. Melashvili and Ilichova have been accused of withholding materials from a border agreement with Azerbaijan that, according to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office, led to the forfeit of about 3,500 hectares of lands against Georgia’s interests.
The lawyers of two detainees who have been accused of withholding materials from a border agreement with Azerbaijan that ended ‘against the interests of the state’ will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the refusal of a court to grant them bail.
Two former members working on a state commission charged with demarcating Georgia’s border with Azerbaijan have been detained earlier today by the country’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutor’s Office claims that the detainees hid an original map issued in 1937-38 and instead used other maps based on which the border sections between the two countries were agreed ‘against the interests of Georgia and history.’ The detainees are the head of the department for border relations with neighbouring countries of the Ministry of Foreigh Affairs of Georgia Iveri Melashvili and a senior inspector in the border protection department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Natalia Ilichova.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office has announced the launch of an investigation into the alleged unlawful giving of land to a foreign state. The Prosecutor’s Office says that the investigation has been launched according to information provided by the country’s Defence Ministry on August 17, 2020, referring to the activities of the Georgian, governmental commission working on the demarcation of the Georgian border with Azerbaijan.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria says that there is no genuine evidence that former officials Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilichova had the intention to transfer sections of Georgian territory to Azerbaijan back in 2006 under the United National Movement government.