The Tbilisi Court of Appeal has revoked the decision of the Tbilisi City Court against Georgian former Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili made on March 28, 2008 and sentenced him to 11 years of prison.
Okruashvili was charged with taking large sums of bribes. According to investigators, in autumn 2006, Chairman of the National Commission for Communications Dmitry Kitoshvili forced MP Jemal Svanidze to sell his 2.6% share in Geocell worth $10 million for $250,000 to Guram Gogua, founder of Arti. Kitoshvili supposedly obeyed according to Okruashvili’s order. Prosecutors said on January 8 that they were planning to lift charges over the case because Kitoshvili, the only witness, refused to testify.
Okruashvili was sentenced for formation of a gang in 2011.
The minister has had political asylum in France since April 2008. He returned to Georgia after Georgian Dream won the parliamentary elections and was arrested at the airport. He remains detained at prison N9 in Tbilisi.
