Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
In Tbilisi the trial continues of the former minister of defense, former interior minister and former general prosecutor of Georgia, Irakly Okruashvili, who is thought to be a significant figure in post-revolutionary Georgian history. He was the closest supporter of Mikhail Saakashvili in the Rose Revolution and the president trusted him with key positions in the government.
Okruashvili was thought to be an uncompromising prosecutor. He acted even tougher as interior minister, while in the position of defense minister he launched the army into the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia. In the end, Okruashvili began to show political ambitions and the president decided to get rid of him. Saakashvili appointed him to the position of the minister of stable economic development – a position with an odd name and unclear functions. Iralky rejected the appointment. He holed up in his Tbilisi palace and had no contacts with journalists for a year. He was waiting for the right time, which came in the autumn of 2007 as Tbilisi saw mass protests demanding Saakashvili’s resignation. Okruashvili shifted to the open opposition to the president and the ruling party. He accused his former friend of all the cardinal sins, hinting at the involvement of the president in the murder of the former prime minister Zurab Zhavania and the well-known businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili. Moreover, Okruashvili told journalists that Saakashvili ordered the businessman and MP Valery Gelashvili to be beaten severely for saying unpleasant things about Saakashvili's wife, Sandra Rulovs.
The authorities immediately initiated a criminal case against Okruashvili and accused him of blackmailing a minor shareholder of the mobile operator Geocell, Dzhemal Svanidze. Irakly was arrested, but he spent few days in prison: Saakshvili wasn’t interested in making him a charismatic leader of the united opposition, and he proposed a deal to the former prosecutor – exile.
To make Okruashvili choose the right option, they sent him to a prison where people were kept who got there due to Okruashvili when he was the general prosecutor. Okruashvili decided to confess to blackmail (moreover, the accusations had real foundations), paid $6 million and left for France, where he obtained political asylum. Some months later, the Tbilisi court convicted him to 11 years in prison in contumaciam.
Okruashvili has never been Russia’s friend. Remember his bold rude statement on the quality of Georgian wine exported to Russia and various demarches during tension in South Ossetia in 2004-2005. However, after his exile, “the revolutionary” decided to make peace with Moscow. At least, he gave several interviews to the Russian media and accused Saakashvili of supporting terrorism in the North Caucasus. In May 2011 Tbilisi experienced mass protests again. They were headed by the former chairwoman of the parliament, Nino Burdzhonadze. Okruashvili connected to his former colleagues and supporters from the opposition Georgian Party and urged them to stand on the side of Burdzhanadze. He promised to return to the country on May 25. It was thought that he would fly from Paris and enter through South Ossetia together with the Georgian Intelligence Service Special Forces of Russia.
All activists of the Georgian Party who were arrested for establishing illegal armed groups and attempting to overthrow the authorities stated that Okruashvili told them about a personal agreement with Vladimir Putin on mutual efforts for Saakashvili’s overthrow. Furthermore, he told them that he was in Vladikavkaz and waiting for the right time.
The trial of the participants of “the 2011 takeover” began in Tbilisi on November 2012. That day Irakly Okruashvili unexpectedly came back from Paris and was arrested at Tbilisi airport. He was transported to the Gldan prison number 8. Officially he will spend his sentence for blackmail, but ahead of flying from Paris he recorded an address to the nation, in which he explained that he had returned to Georgia to participate in the trial.
Of course, Okruashvili expected that the parliamentary committee on human rights would place his name on the list of “political refugees of Saakashvili’s regime” and hoped for a quick release. But he faced surprises. His name wasn’t listed among political refugees, but was listed among people against whom the former authorities initiated criminal cases with political backgrounds. The list includes 190 names. It is easy to understand the motivation of the new administration: if Okruashvili was considered to be a political refugee, he should be released immediately. The new team doesn’t intend to set free one of the pillars of Saakashvili’s regime. The lawyer of Okruashvili, Zviad Kordzadze, told Vestnik Kavkaza that three more criminal cases have been initiated against Okruashvili, including the one which is being considered in the court at the moment. “If he is found guilty on at least one criminal case, he will stay in prison,” Kordzadze said with dissatisfaction, hinting that Okruashvili made a mistake when he decided to return to Georgia.
