"Giorgadze Case" in Georgia could go to European Court
Published 10 September, 2007, 07:08
In 1995, Georgia's former State Security Minister, Igor Giorgadze, was accused of an attempt on the life of President Eduard Schaverdnadze. He fled the country. His opposition “Justice” party has continued to criticise those in power. One of the party members and a relative, Maia Topuria, was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison at the end of August.
Maya's children are still puzzled as to why their mother was put behind bars. Her three kids are still in shock after the police arrested their mother a year ago. They all miss her. The family believes that Maia has done nothing wrong.
“I’m more than sure that she’s innocent. I don’t believe in justice here, but maybe she will find justice somewhere else,” Ia Topuria, Maia Topuria's sister, said.
Maia Topuria is one of 12 Georgian opposition activists that a Tbilisi court sentenced to different prison terms at the end of August in the so-called “Giorgadze Case”.
The prosecution claimed that the group had been planning a coup against the current Georgian government and President Mikhail Saakashvili. Another defendant was released on parole after signing an agreement to cooperate with the investigation.
All twelve activists denied their involvement in the supposed plot, most had an alibi, but none of them has been acquitted. The judges gave Maia Topuria, a single mother of three, 8-and-a-half years behind bars, although the prosecution was asking for an even longer term.
Igor Giorgadze, ex-chief of the Georgian National Security Service
“They asked for nine years for Maia Topuria even though they had no aggravating factors and neglected to mention the mitigating factors. But that’s consistent with what they’ve been doing all along. Their evidence is full of holes. They want no one to see it, because they’ve closed the court room. And then they ask for maximum punishment,” Lawrence Barcella, Maia Topuria’ s lawyer, said.
The court was closed to the public and the media. And the defendants never had a chance to openly protest their innocence.
As Georgian officials, including President Mikhail Saakashvili himself, still refuse to comment on the verdict, the opposition leaders say it shows the weakness of the government’s accusations.
But the defense lawyers are not willing to give up. And although they are calling the case a political show trial, they say they are ready to make an appeal.
It might take a while before the Georgian courts review the appeal. But if the prisoners remain behind bars, the defence team is prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
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