Interior minister dismisses allegations of arrested former Security Service official, says “never” had “face-to-face meeting” with Russian FSB representatives
The interior minister also said if the parliamentary investigative commission was created, as demanded, based on Gogashvili's claims, by the representatives of the Georgian opposition, he would answer the questions. Photo: Interior ministry press office
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Georgia’s interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Thursday dismissed the allegations made by the currently imprisoned former deputy head of the country’s state security service, Soso (Ioseb) Gogashvili and said he had “never” had a “face-to-face meeting” with representatives of the Russian Federal Security Service in Belarus capital city of Minsk.
Gomelauri told the press he had attended the 100th anniversary of the creation of Belarus security service in Minsk, along with representatives from the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia, but had never had a “face-to-face meeting” with FSB representatives and noted he had “no connection” with them. He also denied Gogashvili’s accusation as if he had been in the capital of North Ossetia, Vladikavkaz.
I met representatives of the services of Israel, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Armenia and other countries”, Gomelauri noted.
The interior minister also said if the parliamentary investigative commission was created, as demanded, based on Gogashvili's claims, by the representatives of the Georgian opposition, he would answer the questions.
The Georgian Defence Ministry on Monday dismissed reports by opposition-minded TV channels that said servicemembers were leaving the Georgian Defence Forces “en masse” as “disinformation”.
Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Friday dismissed allegations against him of exercising pressure on the currently imprisoned former Deputy Head of the country's State Security Service, Soso (Ioseb) Gogashvili, describing the accusations by the latter and his family as “ridiculous and absolutely unfounded”.
Anri Okhanashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday ruled out the country’s Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri exerting pressure on the imprisoned former Deputy Head of the Georgian State Security Service, Soso Gogashvili, following allegations by the former official’s lawyers and family.
Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor’s Office has charged Soso Gogashvili, the former Deputy Head of the State Security Service, for exceeding authority, illegally obtaining personal data of two individuals and illegal possession of firearms.
Georgian justice minister Rati Bregadze on Thursday rejected claims by a former supreme court judge about interference in courts by ruling Georgian Dream authorities as “unacceptable” and urged any claimant to “address relevant state bodies” if they believed pressure had been exerted on them.
Georgian interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri on Tuesday rejected the local media claim that said 250,000 individuals from Russia had entered the Georgian territory over the last five days since the announcement of the partial military mobilisation in Russia as a “lie”.
Tbilisi City Court on Tuesday sentenced Soso Gogashvili, the former Deputy Head of the Georgian State Security Service, to five years in prison on charges of exceeding authority and privacy invasion.