Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TBILISI2484
2007-10-04 13:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tbilisi
Cable title:  

SENTENCING IN THE GIORGADZE TREASON CASE

Tags:  PGOV PREL GG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6751
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHSI #2484/01 2771313
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 041313Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TBILISI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7832
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TBILISI 002484 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL GG
SUBJECT: SENTENCING IN THE GIORGADZE TREASON CASE

REF: A. TBILISI 2019

B. TBILISI 2139

C. TBILISI 2151

Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TBILISI 002484

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL GG
SUBJECT: SENTENCING IN THE GIORGADZE TREASON CASE

REF: A. TBILISI 2019

B. TBILISI 2139

C. TBILISI 2151

Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) As promised to the Ambassador (ref C) the office of
the Prosecutor General made the trial court's decision in the
Maia Topuria treason case available to the Embassy. On
August 24, the Tbilisi City Court found all 13 defendants
linked to Igor Giorgadze's Justice Party guilty of treason in
a conspiracy to violently take over the State Chancellery,
site of the Georgian President's and Prime Minister's
offices. The court sentenced them to periods of imprisonment
up to 8 years (ref B). Topuria, Giorgadze's niece and an
alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, was sentenced to 8
years imprisonment. Topuria's U.S. Counsel, Larry Barcella,
claimed that the trial court's reasoning in the case was
flawed because: 1) the government coached the witnesses, 2)
the court rejected the defendants' alibi witnesses' testimony
simply because of the witnesses' bias, and 3) the government
changed the dates on documents in evidence from May 24 to May
4 in order to implicate defendants who were allegedly absent
from the country on May 4, when the conspiratorial
conversations allegedly took place. Post had the court's
decision translated by a native Georgian speaker who is also
a lawyer. Poloff and Embassy DOJ Legal Advisor have carefully
reviewed the decision. Post's assessment is that the Tbilisi
Court supports its decision with objective evidence and
addresses Barcella's concerns. End Summary.

--------------
Background of the Plot
--------------


2. (U) Maia Topuria and several other Georgian citizens
were arrested in September 2006 and charged with conspiracy
to overthrow the government, preparation of an armed riot,
and incitement to purchase illegal arms. According to the
findings of the trial court, Topuria held a meeting on May 4
at the Samartlianoba (Justice) Party Headquarters to which
she invited members of the Conservative-Monarchist Party and
the Twenty-First Century Party. Topuria briefed them about

Giorgadze's plan to overthrow the existing Georgian
government, with the assistance and financing from Russia.
Firearms and other combat material were to be purchased and
used during diversionary demonstrations, during which the
State Chancellery would be overrun and occupied. At the
same time, security guards, who had been paid off by
Giorgadze, would fire in the direction of protesters, causing
civil unrest. Using the advantage of the resulting
confusion, some pre-recruited armed persons were to kill law
enforcement ministers, thereby paralyzing these agencies.
The President of Georgia, the Chairman of Parliament, and the
Prime Minister were to be isolated and forced to resign,
triggering special elections. Except for two, all those
present agreed to the plan, with the understanding that they
would receive 3,000-5,000 USD for their participation. The
money was to finance recruitment of one hundred participants
by each of them to take part in the armed actions. It was
understood that all participants would receive a guarantee of
immunity from Igor Giorgadze after he came into power upon
dissolution of the government.


3. (U) Police seized USD 46,730, 300 euros, and 780 Russian
rubles from Topuria's apartment on September 6, which were
allegedly destined for the pay-off of participants in the
attack on the government. On the same date two additional
searches were carried out at the Office of the Youth Union of
the Samartlianoba Party and at the residence of Kakhaber
Kantaria, one of those charged along with Topuria. The
search at the Youth Union yielded nine polyethylene colored
bags containing leaflets calling for violent overthrow of the
government and the GEL 34,000 allegedly intended for use in
carrying out the plan. A search at Kakhabaer Kantaria's
residence revealed a cache of firearms and combat material
which included 29 submachine-guns (models AKM, AKMC, and
AK-74) with ammunition, six sealed khaki color metal boxes
intended for ammunition, 20 grenades, two sealed metal boxes
for grenade rings, 29 small boxes labeled "TNT Unit 2002",
one PKM-FT701-1968 machine gun and nine grenade guns with
ammunition. According to a ballistic examination report, the
weapons seized were fully functional.

--------------
Procedural Concerns During the Trial
--------------

TBILISI 00002484 002 OF 003




4. (C) On August 24, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced all 13
defendants charged in the case to prison. Post met four
times with Larry Barcella and Melinda Serafa, U.S. counsels
for Topuria, to listen to their concerns about due process
and violations of criminal procedures during the trial.
Barcella protested the closure of the court room due to
concerns about the safety of witnesses. Post also raised the
issue at higher levels with GoG authorities (refs A and C).


5. (C) On September 21, the Embassy received a Georgian
language version of the court's explanation of its verdict.
A translation was carefully reviewed by the Embassy's
Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor. Barcella has
claimed that the reasoning in the case was flawed because: 1)
the government coached the witnesses, 2) the court rejected
the defendants' alibi witnesses' testimony simply because of
the witnesses' bias, and 3) the government changed the dates
on documents in evidence from May 24 to May 4 in order to
implicate defendants who were allegedly absent from the
country on May 24.

--------------
Were Witnesses Coached?
--------------


6. (C) Barcella claimed that the government witnesses
manufactured their testimony based on threats or coaching.
The court specifically addressed this issue, noting that the
witnesses themselves testified that their testimony was not
the result of threats or coaching. "Giorgi Siprashvili, Nino
Khmaladze, Vaja Sikhradulidze, Ramin Adeishvili, Giorgi
Bzishvili, Jumber Katamadze, Irma Jogiashvili and David
Lomidze, as well as defendant Maia Nikoleishvili firmly
denied any pressure or dictation of testimony from the
representatives of law enforcement in the course of their
interrogations and they also denied knowing each other." The
existence of some slight differences in the witnesses'
testimony may indicate that they were not coached.


7. (C) The witnesses' testimony is consistent with regard to
the significant elements regarding the conspiracy (how it was
to take place, when it was to take place, who would be
involved, and the amounts to be paid),but certain witnesses
recalled individuals being present at the May 4 meeting while
others did not cite those people as being present. This
would appear to support a contention that the government did
not coach or threaten them. If the government had coached or
threatened the witnesses, there would be no logical reason
for some witnesses to mention certain conspirators' presence,
but for other witnesses to forget to include some other
conspirators.

--------------
Bias?
--------------


8. (C) Barcella argued that the court rejected the
defendants' alibi claims simply because the defense witnesses
had a bias based on their prior relationships with the
defendants. The court noted on several occasions the
witnesses' relationship with the defendants. However, it
also looked at objective evidence. For example, the court
noted that law enforcement officials found large sums of
money at Maia Topuria's apartment.


9. (C) Similarly, the court rejected Topuria's claim that
she could not have conducted a meeting on May 4 because she
was giving an interview to Russian journalists that day. It
noted that based on documents from the Department of Border
Protection, the only journalists to whom Topuria claims she
spoke left Georgia on May 3. "Prosecution was able to
produce a record issued by the Department of Border
Protection of Georgia showing that journalists D. Pimenov,
and P. Gulenko crossed the national border of Georgia on May
3, 2006, at 0637 am."

--------------
May 24 versus May 4
--------------


10. (C) Barcella claims that the prosecution changed the
date of the conspiratorial meeting mentioned in documents
presented in evidence from May 4 from May 24, after it
learned that several defendants were out of the country on
May 24. The court addressed that issue as well, noting
neither the defendants nor the court ever cite a document
alleging a May 24 meeting. Instead, the court noted that two
search warrants--for the Samartlianoba Party's headquarters
in Tbilisi and its regional office in Kakheti--cite May 4 as
the day of the meeting. The court concluded that the number

TBILISI 00002484 003 OF 003


"24" is only mentioned in connection with the Samartlianoba
party's address in Tbilisi, 24 Rustaveli. "Defendants claim
that as soon as arresting officials learned that some of them
were outside of Georgia on May 24, they allegedly replaced
the said date (May 24) in the court orders with May 4, 2006.
The Court rejects the defendants' above allegations since the
case material proved that court-issued warrants to search
defendants' flats and offices were approved on September 5,
2006, and search warrants did indicate the date of conspiracy
to be May 4. The number 24 was used in the court order only
in connection with the address of the head office of the
Samartlianoba Party which is 24 Rustaveli Ave."

TEFFT