Irakli Okruashvili sentenced to five years of imprisonment

Today, the court has found Irakli Okruashvili, the former Georgian Minister of Defence, guilty of participating in riots during protests which took place in Tbilisi on June 20-21, 2019. Irakli Okruashvili is sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 25, 2019, Irakli Okruashvili, a founder of the "Victorious Georgia" Party, and four other persons were detained in a case on mass violence during the protests in front of the Georgian parliament. According to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), on June 20, 2019, Irakli Okruashvili urged protesters to break into the parliament building. He himself made such attempts. The "Transparency International Georgia" included Irakli Okruashvili in its list of political prisoners.

Today, the Tbilisi City Court has sentenced Irakli Okruashvili, the former Georgian Minister of Defence, to five years of imprisonment for participating in riots in protests which took place in Tbilisi in June 2019, the "Georgian Public Broadcasting" TV Channel reports today.

The release or change of pre-trial restriction measure for Irakli Okruashvili was part of an agreement on parliamentary elections between the ruling party and the opposition concluded on March 8. Irakli Okruashvili was charged with "organizing, leading, and participating in violent actions during the assault on the Georgian parliament building on June 20-21." The court acquitted Irakli Okruashvili of the "organizing the violent actions," and the sentence was imposed for participating in the riots, the news agency "News-Georgia" reports today.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 13, 2020 at 02:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.