Former Interior Minister Irakli Okruashvili has been sentenced to 7 years in prison in relation to the Buta Robakidze case. However, the charge of abuse of official authority was covered by amnesty, and his final sentence was set at 5 years and 3 months.
The decision was issued by Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze. Okruashvili’s lawyer, Mamuka Chabashvili, says they will appeal the verdict in the Court of Appeals.
Irakli Okruashvili was charged in 2020 in the Buta Robakidze case. The Prosecutor’s Office accused him of abuse of official authority. The same charge had been brought against the former Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili, whom Lasha Chkhikvadze acquitted.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office:
“On 24 November 2004, late at night, at approximately 02:00, on Akaki Tsereteli Avenue in Tbilisi, near the Didube Pantheon, patrol police officers stopped a BMW vehicle with a driver and five passengers. During their stop and personal check, patrol inspector Grigol Basheleishvili accidentally discharged a round from his service firearm and seriously wounded passenger Amiran (Buta) Robakidze, who had stepped out of the car and died at the scene.
On the same night, then Minister of Internal Affairs Irakli Okruashvili received information about the incident and instructed senior officials of the Ministry who were at the scene to protect the image of the patrol police and present the incident as an armed attack on police officers by an armed group.
Following Okruashvili’s instructions, the senior officials of the Ministry placed firearms and ammunition on the deceased Amiran (Buta) Robakidze and the other passengers of the vehicle. Later, on the orders of then–Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili, the investigation was directed in an unlawful manner, which included the procedural attachment of falsified evidence and the reinforcement of the version crafted by senior Ministry officials.
As a result, based on falsified evidence, the passengers in the car were unlawfully prosecuted, while the deceased Amiran (Buta) Robakidze was declared a member of a criminal group. These actions caused a substantial violation of an individual’s rights, the lawful interests of the state, and an affront to the victim’s personal dignity.”
Buta Robakidze’s mother, Ia Metreveli, responded to Okruashvili’s sentence. She demands punishment for other figures involved in the case, including Zurab Adeishvili.
“I hope that the next court instance will still convict the scoundrel Adeishvili,” Metreveli writes.
Buta Robakidze was killed on 24 November 2004 in Tbilisi, on Tsereteli Avenue near the Didube Pantheon, by a patrol police officer. After the change of government, the investigation was reopened, and charges of abuse of power were brought against several former senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among them were the former head of the Ministry’s press service Guram Donadze and the former head of the Tbilisi Patrol Police Main Division Zurab Mikadze, both of whom were released in 2020 based on plea agreements.
Irakli Okruashvili remains in custody. He was arrested on 14 May for failing to appear before the temporary parliamentary commission created by Georgian Dream to examine the activities of the United National Movement and its members. On 4 July, he was sentenced to 8 months in prison.