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Elisashvili Released on 4000 GEL Bail

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At today's hearing, Tbilisi City Court Judge Levan Gelovani granted the prosecutor's motion, replacing the preventive detention imposed on Aleksandre Elisashvili on December 6 with bail set at 4000 GEL. One of the leaders of the Strong Georgia coalition was released from the courtroom.

“This morning, I was going to buy a TV to find out what was happening in the country, and I heard that I was being taken to trial. To be honest, I thought I was being taken there to be beaten. It turned out they were letting me out.

During this time, the prosecutor’s office took a shameful position, claiming that Elisashvili has connections abroad and is hiding. What happened in these ten days? Am I hiding now?! The fact is that something happened. Perhaps foreigners hit him on the head or something like that.

This means absolutely nothing; nothing is over, everything is just beginning. During this month and a half outside - let’s see how it goes - I will fight for the release of all political prisoners, starting with those from the spring protests. Two things are important to me: political prisoners must be released, and these moralists must be expelled from the government,” Elisashvili said after his release.

As Prosecutor Zviad Gubeladze explained, the intensity of the defendant's threats to obstruct justice had decreased, which is why a motion was filed to release him on bail.

"The prosecution considered it appropriate that, as of today, at this stage, it was not necessary to use the most severe measure of restraint - imprisonment - since a less restrictive measure, bail, would ensure the goals set forth in the Criminal Procedure Code. The goals of a preventive measure are for the defendant to appear, not to obstruct the administration of justice, not to influence witnesses, not to abscond, etc. In the case of imprisonment and in the case of bail, the threats are the same. It is simply possible that the intensity of these threats will decrease, that the threat will no longer be as high, and the prosecutor will be guided by this when filing a motion,” Gubeladze said.

On December 4, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs forcibly detained Aleko Elisashvili in Tbilisi while he was leaving the Courtyard Marriott Hotel after a meeting with opposition leaders. The prosecutor’s office charged him with the politically motivated persecution of Ali Babaev, one of the founders of the Georgian Dream party.

The lawyer stated that Elisashvili was provoked and was being punished as an example for hitting Georgian Dream leader Mamuka Mdinaradze in parliament a few months ago.

A pre-trial hearing in the case of Aleksandre Elisashvili is scheduled for January 23. If convicted, he faces a fine or house arrest for one to two years or imprisonment for up to three years.

Georgian News
Georgian News
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