The Tbilisi City Court has ordered pre-trial detention as a preventive measure for Tamaz Elizbarashvili, who was detained on charges of making threats. The defense had filed a petition requesting his release on bail of 20,000 GEL (approximately $7,500).
The defendant also addressed the court during the hearing. According to Elizbarashvili, he did not commit any crime.
“Seven people came out of one of the private dining rooms at the restaurant. I asked, ‘Who are you?’—‘We work at Imedi.’ I replied, ‘Fine, but I don’t know any of you.’—‘You insult us often, and you have to apologize’… My wife was waiting for me upstairs in the restaurant, and that made me anxious. Because they wouldn’t let me leave and I was being held up, my wife came downstairs. I didn’t want my wife to see them spitting at me and hurling insults. I didn’t want my wife to hear that conversation.
My wife went back upstairs and came down a few minutes later accompanied by a restaurant security guard; however, even before they arrived, I asked that one of those seven be removed.
He took a swing at me but missed, shouting obscenities. They demanded an apology from me. I replied: I am a respectable man and I am not ashamed to apologize, but tell me, what am I supposed to apologize for? ‘Until you apologize, we won’t let you out of here. We don’t like your civic stance.’
Two restaurant security guards managed to usher that aggressive man back into the private room.
I am not someone who seeks out trouble—would I really go pick a fight with a young man the same age as my children? That is the plain truth, I swear on my children, if I added or omitted a single thing…
If simply walking over there frightened seven people, I will issue a public apology. If I had gone there to fight, would I really have gone alone?! The Prosecutor’s Office claims that seven people filed a complaint, yet they themselves say they did not complain. Now I do not know how to view this. I do not understand what is happening or why the Prosecutor’s Office is pursuing me.
I teach my 11 children courage and humanity. The prosecutor is trying to intimidate me with prison—well, I am ready to go to prison, and I will emerge from it twice as strong.
So, holding my hand over my chest was deemed dangerous? I committed no crime, Your Honor, but if I frightened those seven, I am ready to publicly apologize,” the news agency IPN quoted Tamaz Elizbarashvili as saying during the hearing.
Elizbarashvili was originally detained under administrative procedures on September 1 during a search of his apartment. On September 3, the Prosecutor’s Office charged him under Part 1 of Article 151 of the Criminal Code of Georgia (threat of death or injury to health when there are sufficient grounds to fear the execution of the threat).
On September 1, searches were conducted of Elizbarashvili’s vehicle and residential property. As the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed Tabula, the investigative procedures were carried out as part of an investigation under Article 151 (threat) and Article 236 (illegal purchase, storage, and carrying of firearms) of the Criminal Code of Georgia.
