Prosecutor’s Office Charges Former Deputy Head of State Security Service, Gogashvili with 3 Articles
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
The former deputy head of the State Security Service, Soso Gogashvili, was officially indicted. The Prosecutor's Office charged him with 3 articles - exceeding his official authority, illegally obtaining, storing, distributing personal data using his official position, and illegally purchasing and storing firearms.
According to the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office, as a result of the investigation, it was established that Ioseb Gogashvili had access to information containing state secrets, as well as personal and personal data, given on his official position, while working in various leadership positions in the State Security Service in 2015-2018.
“Gogashvili, exceeding his official authority, took the above-mentioned data from work for personal purposes and kept it in his residence, some of which information was disseminated publicly with his participation, which caused a violation of the constitutional right of citizens and significant damage. In addition, there was a danger of disclosure of state secrets.”
In the same statement, it is written that Gogashvili purchased 5 firearms and ammunition, 2 of which were unregistered, and three, which were also kept in his home, were signed under the name of a close relative.
Employees of the State Security Service arrested Gogashvili on July 16. He is accused under the 1st part of Article 333 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (exceeding official authority by an official, which caused a substantial violation of the legal interest of the state), under the 4th part of Article 157 (illegally obtaining, storing, distributing personal data, causing significant damage) caused by the use of official position) and was presented under the 3rd part of Article 236 (illegal purchase and storage of firearms and ammunition), which provides for imprisonment for a term of 4 to 7 years.
The prosecutor's office has already applied to the court with a motion to extend the prison term to the accused as a preventive measure.
“As a result of the search conducted by the court's ruling, marked state secret documents related to the activities of the State Security Service, documents containing personal and personal data, dozens of technical equipment and illegal firearms were removed from the residence of Gogashvili. The investigation of the mentioned criminal case in the State Security Service is continuing.”
Soso Gogashvili was arrested in Tbilisi on July 16, at his home. The video footage shot by his wife shows that masked law enforcement officers physically arrest Gogashvili in the first seconds of entering the house. According to the agency, the arrest of the former head ‘became inevitable as a result of the search’. His relatives
Gogashvili himself connects his arrest with the statement made by him on the disclosure of information related to election fraud. According to the lawyer, the documents, which Gogashvili intended to make public, will probably be published by July 25.
According to Gogashvili’s wife, Tea Martkopishvili, law enforcement officers planted a firearm under the bed and another in the closet, as well as a ‘flash drive, computer, written documents, and a hard drive’ next to the bed. She claimed that law enforcement officers did not allow her to call an ambulance or a lawyer.
Notably, Gogashvili’s arrest was preceded by the dissemination of a secret audio recording by TV host and singer Gia Gachechiladze, who has had close ties with the government, of Mtavari Arkhi TV journalists discussing how to cover ‘secret files’ given to them by Gogashvili. The former deputy head also authored a July 15 Facebook post after the distribution of the secret recording, which exposed authorities’ falsification of last year’s local elections and claimed that Gogashvili already provided evidence of the ‘entire structure’ to media and other organizations.
