In Georgia, Court of Appeal upholds verdict to Badri Bitsadze

Today, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the first instance court in relation to Badri Bitsadze, ex-head of the frontier Police of Georgia, convicted in absentia for resisting the police, said his advocate Levan Samushiya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the defence of Badri Bitsadze had challenged the verdict passed by the Tbilisi City Court on August 19, according to which Mr Bitsadze was sentenced to 5.5 years of imprisonment for organizing an attack on policemen during the dispersal of the oppositional rally in Tbilisi on May 26.

"This is an illegal and unjust decision, although a biased court is today's reality in Georgia. There are many witnesses' evidence and proofs, according to which there were no criminal actions committed by Bitsadze," said Samushiya.

According to his story, within a month the decision of the Court of Appeal will be challenged appealed to the Supreme Court, while the next step will be the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, the "News-Georgia" reports.

Mr Samushiya said that on October 11, Nona Gaprindashvili, Chair of the "National Assembly", was questioned as a witness; "however, unfortunately, her evidences had no effect on the court's decision," the "PirWeli" quotes.