The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation indicted the commander of the Georgian Legion fighting for Ukraine, Georgian citizen Mamuka Mamulashvili, and more than 70 members of the Legion in absentia.
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The Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, gave the order to prosecute Mamuka Mamulashvili back in April. According to the information published on the agency website, the case concerned “committing war crimes against servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces and employees of the National Guard.”
On July 28, Bastrykin took part in the operational meeting of the investigation headquarters in the occupied city of Melitopol in Ukraine and personally heard the report on the results of the investigation.
“Georgian citizen Ushangi Mamulashvili, known in the media as Mamuka Mamulashvili, was charged in absentia as part of the criminal investigation into the recruitment of mercenary fighters in the Ukrainian armed forces and their participation in hostilities.
It has been established that Mumulashvili created the Georgian National Legion in 2014 and has been recruiting members from Georgia to participate in combat operations against the governments of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics. At this time, criminal charges have been brought against more than 70 mercenary fighters from the Legion,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Mamuka Mamulashvili accuses the Georgian government of collaborating with Russia.
“This is a part of the fighters whose names were identified in collaboration with the Georgian government. These are men from different units of the Georgian Legion. They provided whatever information they could get their hands on,” said Mamulashvili and added that it is possible that the Georgian authorities will hand over the members of the Legion, against whom criminal prosecution has begun, to Russia upon their return to their homeland.
The Georgian government is pursuing a pro-Russian policy and protecting its citizens is out of the question, especially those who are in direct confrontation with Russia. This creates more danger for us in the sense that the inadequate government of Georgia may cooperate with Russia and hand over its own citizens upon their return to Georgia. I think that’s the point of this provocation. This is a part of Russia's intimidation policy, but the biggest threat is still in Georgia,” says Mamuka Mamulashvili.
The Georgian government has not commented on the decision of the Russian Investigative Committee.