Zeev Frenkel accuses the Georgian authorities of arbitrariness

Israeli manager Zeev Frenkel, who was sentenced by Georgian court to six and a half years of imprisonment and amnestied by the decree of President Saakashvili, gave the first interview to Israeli media. He talked about the deplorable conditions  in prison and accused Georgian authorities of arbitrariness.

In an interview Frenkel above all stresses that he is not self-employed, but the employee. According to him, he never worked in the energy company established in Georgia by Ron Fuchs, but  just agreed to become an interpreter and mediator in negotiations between Fuchs and the Georgian government. At the same time Frenkel categorically rejects the accusations of bribery. According to him, it was not about a  bribe but about  Fuchs receiving the compensation of 98.2 million dollars on the decision of London Court of Arbitration, but will invest 25 million of this sum, that is, in fact, will return this money to Georgian economy.

When in the course of the talks in Ankara, these conditions were identified by the Georgian side as acceptable, it was proposed to discuss some remaining controversial points and to finalize an agreement on resolving the conflict in Georgia. The proposal came from the Georgian government and neither Frenkel nor Fuchs did not think  that this might be a trap.

Frankel says that after his arrest he was given a Georgian lawyer that did not speak  Russian or English and just remained silent during the whole period of investigation.

In prison he was placed in the cell with the two criminals who were disappointed by the fact that Frenkel replaced there some young boy. All his attempts to explain that he did not  choose the cell were in vain. One night his cell-mates tried to strangle Frenkel with a towel.

Despite a weak heart, Frenkel says that he was not offered any medical treatment for a long and when he was finally brought to the hospital, the doctor started shouting at the guards, because they brought him so late and that the situation is critical. This physician, as it soon became clear, used to be an intern at a Tel Aviv hospital therefore the  medical care given to  Frenkel was of good quality. Generally, in his interview Frenkel speaks very warmly of Georgian doctors and Georgian people as a whole, which cannot be said of his comments about the Georgian authorities and guards. In his interview Frenkel mentions some other facts of arbitrariness from the side of his captors.

Zeev Frenkel does not call  Israeli businessmen to stop doing business in Georgia, but the interview may make business people to think  that they should perhaps  make money in some more civilized place.

Author: Peter Lukimson, Israel, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza