Court takes office away from the Movement "For United Georgia"

Today, the Tbilisi City Court has satisfied the demand of the Prosecutor's Office to transfer the building in Tbilisi housing the head office of the oppositional political movement "For United Georgia" into the state management.

The Movement "For United Georgia" is headed by Irakliy Okruashvili who is now in Paris and who earlier received political asylum in France. The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 28, 2008, the judge of the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Okruashvili in absentia to 11 years of imprisonment. Mr Okruashvili was found guilty of extortion of a part of the stock in the GeoSell mobile operator.

The Prosecutor's Office asserts that the office of Irakliy Okruashvili's movement was bought for the money earned illegally. Meanwhile, the members of the Movement "For United Georgia" have stated in their comments on the decision of the court that "the authorities continue to persecute the opposition, and the decision of the court is politically motivated."

Okruashvili himself is of the same opinion. In his opinion, the Georgian Prosecutor's Office is persecuting him for his utterances against the policy of President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili.