Eka Beselia

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  www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav0331 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/31/2008    Last Visited: 4/1/2008  

  Okruashvili's defense lawyers Eka Beselia and Lili Gelashvili have accused Tbilisi City Court Judge Giorgi Shavliashvili of political bias, claiming that their ability to mount a legal defense was unfairly hampered.
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  Other attorneys were appointed in their stead, but Beselia maintained that Okruashvili does not recognize them as his counsel.
  
  "The court took a political decision.The reason behind it is clear: [President] Mikhail Saakashvili wants to take Irakli Okruashvili out of the political arena and not to give him the possibility to take part in the parliamentary elections," stated Beselia, a prominent figure in the political coalition opposed to Saakashvili and a member of Okruashvili's Movement for a United Georgia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
  
  Beselia points to the speed with which the trial was conducted -- after a drawn-out break, the process resumed on March 17 -- as a sign that the court had been instructed to deliver a guilty verdict, which, by law, will block Okruashvili from registering for the parliamentary race.
  
  In recent interviews, Okruashvili had indicated that he was considering running in Georgia's May 21 parliamentary race -- presumably, from outside Georgia.Okruashvili is now in Paris awaiting a hearing on a political asylum request.He is also fighting Tbilisi's request for his extradition to Georgia.
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  "We do not expect that Georgia's court will change its unfair decision," said Beselia.

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  www.casadelest.org/foro/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=649 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/11/2007    Last Visited: 12/4/2007  

  Speaking outside Interior Ministry headquarters, Eka Beselia, a lawyer for the former defense minister, told reporters that her client "maintains his total innocence" and limited his statements to interrogators to only repeating that he was "a political prisoner."She added that Okruashvili's Tbilisi home was being searched and that, in violation of the law, another one of his lawyers was not being allowed to enter the house.
  
  In a sensational press conference in Tbilisi on September 25, the former defense minister accused President Saakashvili of "corruption and injustice" and "political killings," adding that he could not exclude the possibility that the Georgian authorities will engineer his assassination.
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  Late on 27 September, Okruashvili's lawyer, Eka Beselia, a member of Okruashvili's newly formed Movement for a United Georgia, told reporters that the former defense minister "maintains his total innocence" and asserts "that he is a political prisoner."

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  www.newsgeorgia.net/category/politics/president-politic - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/1/2008    Last Visited: 8/10/2008  

  Okruashvili's lawyer, Eka Beselia, stated that Georgian authorities did not knowingly allow Kareli to flee to avoid imprisoning him.
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  According to Beselia, he will be tried in absentia.

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  www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav0928 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/28/2007    Last Visited: 10/15/2008  

  Late on September 27, Okruashvili's lawyer, Eka Beselia, a member of Okruashvili's newly formed Movement for a United Georgia, told reporters that the former defense minister "maintains his total innocence" and asserts "that he is a political prisoner."

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  en.rian.ru/world/20070929/81637823.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/29/2007    Last Visited: 9/29/2007  

  A lawyer for Okruashvili, Eka Beselia, earlier called the arrest political, and linked it to Okruashvili's statements.

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  rfe.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/10/3cc45581-d86d-488 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/8/2007    Last Visited: 11/17/2007  

  Okruashvili's lawyer, Eka Beselia, said she was not allowed to be present during her client's interrogation, and claims his confession was made under pressure.Today's videotape, however, shows Okruashvili agreeing to the presence of a prosecutor-appointed lawyer, Givi Papuashvili.

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  www.iwpr.net/index.php?p=crs&l=EN&s=f&o=339796 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/11/2007    Last Visited: 10/12/2007  

  Okruashvili's lawyer Eka Beselia met Okruashvili at his home, and said afterwards that his client was being forced into abandoning his political activity.He suggested that the confession had been made under duress.

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  www.eurasianet.net/resource/georgia/hypermail/news/0011 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/10/2007    Last Visited: 10/31/2007  

  Speaking to reporters in Tbilisi on October 9, Eka Beselia, the lawyer for former Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, denied recent media reports that her client had left the country with his wife and 4-year-old daughter, ITAR-TASS reported.Beselia said that she had just met with Okruashvili, and that her client "has not gone anywhere and is staying in his apartment in Tbilisi."

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  www.hri.org/news/balkans/rferl/2007/07-10-09.rferl.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/9/2007    Last Visited: 10/9/2007  

  Reacting to the televised confession, his lawyer, Eka Beselia, dismissed his remarks as a result of "pressure" and added that "he is not in his right mind," according to Rustavi-2 television.RG
  
  [18] GEORGIAN DEPUTIES REACT TO FORMER MINISTER'S ADMISSION

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  www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav0131 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/5/2008    Last Visited: 10/15/2008  

  Okruashvili will be staying with an unidentified Georgian family in the French capital, his defense lawyer, Eka Beselia, told journalists in Tbilisi on January 31.
  
  Okruashvili is also barred from all types of communication that may influence the court's ruling on an extradition request, the Georgian General Prosecutor's Office has said. In November 2007, prior to his imprisonment in Berlin, Okruashvili gave an interview to Der Spiegel in which he claimed that his life would be at risk if he is extradited back to Georgia.
  
  A French court will begin consideration of Tbilisi's extradition request on February 27, according to Beselia. The question of Okruashvili's political asylum request -- originally made in Germany -- may also be decided by that date, she said. A decision must be made within 30 days.
  
  "He will stay in Paris and will wait for further procedures regarding the extradition issue, and, in parallel, the political asylum issue will be decided," said Beselia. "We are sure that Okruashvili won't be extradited to Georgia and will receive political asylum."
  
  A January 4 finding by a Berlin Criminal Court -- which ruled that Tbilisi had not supplied sufficient documentation to back up its extradition request -- was cited by Okruashvili's counsel in mounting a successful argument for his release from prison pending resolution of the cases, she added. [For background see EurasiaNet's Georgia: Vote 2008 special feature].
  
  The Georgian General Prosecutor's Office, however, insists that all documentation regarding Okruashvili's extradition case was supplied. Prosecutors also argue that the decision of the French court to release Okruashvili from custody is not necessarily indicative of the outcome of the Georgian government's extradition request.
  
  Meanwhile, Beselia claimed, Okruashvili will file an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights concerning a two-week extension of his custody in Berlin while procedures for his January 9 transfer to France were being considered. Beselia termed it a "political decision" linked to Georgia's January 5 presidential vote. [For background see EurasiaNet's Georgia: Vote 2008 special feature].
  
  German officials could not be contacted for comment in time for publication.
  
  Georgian officials requested Okruashvili's extradition when he failed to reappear in Tbilisi for trial on criminal charges of money laundering, extortion, abuse of office and negligence of duty. The trial has since been suspended pending resolution of the extradition request. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
  
  Okruashvili's legal troubles began last fall, after he made scathing comments about Saakashvili. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Following his release from prison in Tbilisi last October, Okruashvili originally had been traveling to France via Munich for "medical reasons" before his November 27 detention by German police in response to Georgia's extradition request. He petitioned for political asylum upon arrival in Germany, but was transferred to France on January 9 since he had been traveling on a Schengen visa issued by the French embassy in Tbilisi.

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