TBILISI — Tbilisi City Court on Tuesday sentenced former Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili to seven years in prison for the murder of Buta Robakidze, marking the latest development in Georgia’s ongoing political prosecutions of former opposition officials.

The court acquitted former Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili, who faced charges in the same case. Both men were accused of abuse of office during their tenure under the United National Movement (UNM) government.

The Robakidze Case

On November 24, 2004, patrol police stopped a car carrying six men, including Buta Robakidze. During the stop, officer Giorgi Bashaleishvili shot and killed Robakidze. Bashaleishvili was convicted of negligent homicide.
However, Robakidze’s family has maintained that the crime scene was fabricated. They allege that patrol police chief Mikadze and other officers brought Kalashnikov rifles and moved vehicles to portray Robakidze and his companions as dangerous gang members. Tbilisi Civil Court sentenced Mikadze to 16,000 GEL bail, a decision the family protested as inadequate.

“It was an unfair decision,” Robakidze’s father said at the time, vowing to seek justice for his son.

The Tsulukiani Commission

Okruashvili’s lawyer, Mamuka Chabashvili, told Interpressnews that the defense plans to appeal the verdict.
This sentence comes months after Okruashvili received an eight-month prison term in July for refusing to testify before the Tsulukiani Commission — a parliamentary investigative body established by the ruling Georgian Dream party to probe alleged crimes by former UNM officials.

The commission, chaired by former Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani, has drawn criticism for expanding its scope beyond UNM-era officials to include current government critics. Non-compliance with commission summons carries criminal penalties of up to one year in prison and a ban on holding public office.
In September, Tsulukiani presented the commission’s 470-page report, which characterized Georgia’s 2003 Rose Revolution as “a coup” and accused the UNM government of human rights abuses and provoking the 2008 war with Russia.