15:30, 30 June 2011

Tbilisi Court sentences Okruashvili in absentia to two months in jail

The Tbilisi City Court has sentenced, under the motion of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, in absentia Irakli Okruashvili, ex-Minister of Defence and co-chair of the "Georgian Party", to two months of custody as a preventive measure of liberty deprivation.

On June 27, the Office initiated a criminal case against the ex-Minister on charges of "creating or commanding an illegal armed formation", which assumes imprisonment for 6-9 years.

According to investigators, Okruashvili was involved in organizing an illegal formation, which planned on June 21-25 to commit an armed attack on a police station in the city of Gori. For this purpose, according to the investigation, Okruashvili had intended to use the armed grouping created by him in Georgia and a detachment of Russian special fighters, the IA "Trend" reports.