The prosecutor's office demanded the removal of Nika Gvaramia, one of the lawyers of the third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, but the panel of judges did not satisfy the request.
Prosecutor Jarji Tsiklauri addressed judges with this motion at the ongoing trial in the Tbilisi City Court.
Tsiklauri named November 7, 2007, as a motive and noted that at the time, Nika Gvaramia held a political position in the Prosecutor's Office, was personally involved in current events, and had access to case materials, which is why it is inadmissible to be involved in the same case.
Nika Gvaramia refused participation in the case and asked if he was a participant in the November 7 events, why he has not been questioned so far.
"If I am a figurant, how come I have not been interrogated so far? Can you imagine I gave a counterintelligence assignment and was not even called for questioning? I am not even a witness," Nika Gvaramia addressed the prosecutor in response.
According to the judge, the ground for avoidance would have been in the case if Nika Gvaramia had been the prosecutor of the case directly.
"Specifically, in this case, he should have been a prosecutor. Specifically, Gvaramia's participation in this case as an accused is not clear in this particular case, and therefore all three of us have this opinion, and we do not satisfy the motion," said Judge Liana Orkodashvili.
The state indictment accuses Mikheil Saakashvili of mass dispersal of protesters on November 7, 2007, intrusion into Imedi TV and criminal seizure of Badri Patarkatsishvili's property.
He is charged under the third part of Article 333 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which stipulates abuse of official authority, which has led to a substantial violation of the rights of a natural or legal person, society, or the state. The mentioned sentence envisages imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years.
