21:00, 10 January 2013

Georgian Court of Appeal cancels verdict to Irakli Okruashvili in case of "GeoCell"

Today, the Georgian Court of Appeal granted the motion filed by advocates of Irakli Okruashvili and cancelled the decision of the Tbilisi City Court on sentencing him to 11 years of imprisonment in the case of extortion of shares of the cellular communication company "GeoCell".

The Court has cancelled the decision because of lack of evidence. Businessman Djemal Svanidze, the victim in the case, has stated that he had no complaints against Irakli Okruashvili, since in the course of the sale of shares of the company "GeoCell", he had no direct contact with the defendant, the "News-Georgia" reports.

Based on the decision of the Court of Appeal and the new testimonies of witnesses in the case, the Tbilisi City Court cancelled the pre-trial restriction measure to Irakli Okruashvili to release on bail for 10,000 laris (about 6000 US dollars), the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Despite that fact, Irakli Okruashvili will remain in custody until the pronouncement of the decision in the case of organization of armed formations and purchase of ammunition for organization of coup d'etat in 2011, the "Kommersant" reports.

Author: Edita Badasyan

Source: CK correspondent