Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
In the team of the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, the most mysterious figure is the former Minister of Justice, the General Prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili. We know few things about him. He never communicates with journalists, but used to be thought to be the most powerful person in Saakashvili’s team. They say that Adeishvili was the only man who could make the former president change a decision; that’s why he was called a grey cardinal. Of course, opponents of the former president thought that he was ‘a pillar of the regime.’
When the power changed, the arrest of the former Minister of Justice was inevitable. But Adeishvili had left the country before the new General Prosecutor accused him of abuse of office, deprivation of property of businessmen in favor of the state (through signing ‘plea bargaining’ with them), and organization of torturing of prisoners.
Soon the former prosecutor was put on the Georgian wanted list, and then on the international wanted list. His arrest was a point of honor for the new authorities. The Interior Ministry sent a relevant request to Interpol, which included Adeishvili in “the red circle” of criminals who are wanted all over the world.
However, recently the name of Zurab Adeishvili disappeared from Interpol’s list. Attempts by the Georgian authorities to get explanations from Lyon, where the headquarters of the organization is situated, have brought no results. Finally, it was found out that, according to unofficial sources, Interpol stopped seeking Adeishvili, as he had been granted political asylum in “one of the European countries.” What country is giving the former General Prosecutor, who is accused of grave crimes in his motherland, the status of political refugee? It is impossible to get an answer to the question from European capitals or Brussels, as if Georgia hasn’t signed the association agreement with the EU and is a terrorist state which permanently violates human rights.
According to Vestnik Kavkaza, Adeishvili moved from Georgia to Hungary, and the Premier of the country, Victor Orban, who is thought to be a close friend of Saakashvili, granted Georgia's grey cardinal political asylum in February 2013. However, Tbilisi hasn’t received any official messages from Budapest. All letters and requests remain without reply.
Meanwhile, the former General Prosecutor managed to sell his Tbilisi apartment through Skype (being the Minister of Justice, he made such a procedure legal), and got a big sum of money for it; but the special services couldn’t detect from where the seller communicated with the buyer and a lawyer. Adeishvili’s lawyers keep silent about the country where their client lives; probably they don’t really know it themselves. Adeishvili often visits Kiev, where he meets Saakashvili, but he doesn’t live there permanently.
As for the reasons for the withdrawal of Adeishvili’s name from the red circular of Interpol, according to new rules which have been adopted earlier this year, a person who receives refugee status in one of the member-states of the organization cannot be wanted anymore. So, it seems “the evil genius of the former regime” will be convicted in absentia to a maximum of 35 years behind bars.
