A court has changed the preventive measure for Levan Gamrekeli, the former deputy chairman of the Khashuri Sakrebulo (local assembly) accused of large-scale theft committed by an organized group, from custody to a bail of 10,000 lari. Two other defendants in the case, Paata Nozadze and Roman Metivishvili, were released under the same bail amount.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, the decision to change the preventive measure for Gamrekeli was made after he fully compensated for a portion of the damage caused to the state.
“At this stage, the defendant has already repaid 2 million lari of the total damage. He has been given a certain amount of time to pay the remaining part. In addition, Levan Gamrekeli’s real estate, movable property, and bank accounts remain frozen,” the agency stated.
The criminal case against Gamrekeli and the two other defendants is currently at the stage of trial on the merits.
All three were detained in November 2025. According to the investigation, between 2020 and 2023, Levan Gamrekeli, Paata Nozadze, and Roman Metivishvili secretly seized state-owned pipelines in the Shida Kartli region with a total value of about 5 million lari, causing significant material damage to the state.
They have been charged under subparagraphs “a” and “b” of Part 4 of Article 177 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (“Large-scale theft committed by an organized group”). The maximum penalty under this article is up to 10 years in prison.