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Georgia issues extraditions request for ex-minister of justice to Germany, Belgium

Georgian foreign ministry summoned EU and German ambassadors to express concern over Adeishvili’s visit to Berlin and Brussels

TBILISI, March 11. /TASS/. The Georgian prosecutor general’s office has issued an extraditions request for former Justice Minster Zurab Adeishvili, who was sentenced in absentia, to Germany and Belgium, the Interprressnews agency reported, citing the prosecutor’s office.

Georgia’s television earlier aired a footage of a Ukrainian delegation attending a session of the German parliament when it was discussing the transfer of long-range missiles to Ukraine. Adeishvili was a member of the Ukrainian delegation. Georgia demanded explanations from Berlin. Later, the German embassy inn Tbilisi said that Germany had no legal grounds to ban the man from visiting Bundestag.

On Monday, the Georgian foreign ministry summoned EU and German ambassadors to express concern over Adeishvili’s visit to Berlin and Brussels. On the same day, the Georgian government released a statement slamming the European Union’s actions.

Adeishvili, who was Georgia’s Minister of Justice when Mikhail Saakashvili was the country’s president, fled the country after the change of power in 2012. He was charged with several offences linked with office abuse. In May 2017, a Tbilisi court sentenced him to 1.5 years in prison in the Akyra winery case. In December 2019, he was convicted to five years behind bars for the attempted fraudulent bankruptcy of Bank Cartu. In November 2019, Adeishvili and former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili were charged with the murder of Amiran Robakidze, 19, in 2004. In January 2021, Adeishviili was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for battery against opposition politician Koba Davitashvili during the dispersal of a rally on November 7, 2007.