Nika Gvaramia found guilty by Tbilisi Court of Appeal
By Liza Mchedlidze
Thursday, November 3, 2022
The Tbilisi Court of Appeal found Nika Gvaramia under Article 220 of the Civil Code in two episodes:
In addition to the "car episode", the court also found Gvaramia guilty of the advertising revenue episode and sentenced him to prison. However, taking into account the principle of absorption of punishment, one of the equal punishments absorbed the other and he was sentenced to imprisonment for 3 years and 6 months.
In this part, the prosecutor's office accused Gvaramia of causing 6,763,509 GEL of damage to "Rustavi-2" TV company. The city court imposed a fine of 50,000 GEL on Gvaramia, and the appellate court changed the type and size of the punishment and sentenced Gvaramia to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment.
As for the II episode, the so-called 'Car Case', the appeal shared the decision of the city court, which is imprisonment for 3 years and 6 months.
The prosecutor's office accused Gvaramia of causing damage of 6,763,509 GEL to the TV company "Rustavi-2". In this case, the judge imposed a fine of 50,000 GEL on Gvaramia.
According to the prosecution, in February 2019, Gvaramia selected a new Porsche Macan S car worth 76,700 euros at the Porsche Center for his and his family's personal use in exchange for the cost of placing commercials.
The decision of the court was followed by the protest of the opposition politicians and other members of the society. After the session, Gedevan Popkhadze addressed them and noted that the Courtyard and Rustaveli should become a place of protest.
Khatia Dekanoidze, one of the leaders of the "United National Movement", called on the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, to pardon Nika Gvaramia and thus take a step towards the European integration of Georgia.
"Despite the fact that I know Nika's attitude towards this issue, I would like to openly call on the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, to take responsibility for European integration, of course, in case of an appeal, and we will think about it... because this is an issue to be discussed very seriously with our partners.
Take responsibility and release Nika Gvaramia, because this is not only about his political views, it is about the European future of Georgia, European integration," said Dekanoidze.
According to her, now it's time for the President to take responsibility, and "use the amnesty mechanism and take this step for the freedom of Nika Gvaramia, this is important for the European integration of Georgia, Nika Gvaramia's freedom, which is directly written in the resolution, it must be fulfilled".
