Georgian law enforcement officers conducted searches of homes owned by former Defense Minister Davit Kezerashvili following a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to uphold a ruling that he had embezzled over 5 million euros ($5.3 million) during his tenure as defense minister more than a decade ago.
It was not clear what was being sought during the December 5 investigative actions. Details will be announced once the searches are complete, Kezerashvili's lawyer said.
The searches took place amid large anti-government protests in the country over the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to suspend talks on Georgia joining the European Union and a crackdown that has drawn international condemnation and sanctions.
SEE ALSO: Opposition Leader Recovering After Violent Arrest As U.S. Warns Georgia To Halt BrutalityOne of the leaders of the opposition United National Movement (ENM), Dimitri Chikovani, currently lives in one of the homes searched.
Chikovani reacted to the search on social media, saying it was an attempt to intimidate by “the Russian regime” and vowing that it would not succeed.
“They want to form a dictatorship in the country, and they are wrong if they think they can do it,” Chikovani said. “Home invasions, illegal arrests, and pressure on individuals will not stop anyone. The Georgian people will soon force the Russian dictator and his regime out of Georgia forever and ever.”
Kezerashvili, who fled Georgia in 2012 for France, reacted to the searches by taunting the Georgian authorities in a post on social media.
"The so-called authorities have been so overwhelmed by the ECHR's decision that they are entering my house at the moment. Come on boys, keep it up. We still got this!!"
Earlier on December 5, Georgian Justice Minister Anri Okhanashvili told a news conference in Tbilisi that the embezzled funds had been designated in the state budget for the Georgian armed forces shortly before the August 2008 war with Russia.
Okhanashvili described Kezerashvili’s actions as a “blatant act of corruption,” and added that the former minister had signed a fictitious agreement with an offshore company for army training, bypassing the General Staff of the Defense Forces.
The justice minister said the Strasbourg-based ECHR ruling showed thatthere had been no political prosecution against Kezerashvili and the judgment of the Supreme Court of Georgia on Kezerashvili's guilty plea was also substantiated and the presumption of innocence against him was not violated.
“The court unequivocally found no violation of the presumption of innocence and affirmed that the Supreme Court of Georgia’s verdict was well-founded,” he said. "I congratulate our state, the Georgian Army, and our community on this worthy victory in the European Court," Okhanashvili added.
However, ECHR decision indicated that an article of the Convention on Human Rights on the right to a fair trial was violated in Kezerashvili’s case.
The court held that the presence of former Prosecutor-General Shalva Tadumadze on the three-judge panel that convicted him was sufficient to question the objectivity of the Supreme Court during the hearing of the appeal.
But the court did not believe that the Supreme Court's decision was unsubstantiated and would result in a denial of the fairness of the proceedings as a whole.
Kezerashvili filed the case with the ECHR in February 2022. The decision was made by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR with the consent of seven judges.