Former Tbilisi mayor Ugulava convicted of hooliganism
TBILISI. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The Tbilisi City Court ruled on Thursday evening to find the city's former mayor and New Georgia opposition party leader Gigi Ugulava guilty of hooliganism and physical assault on a man in the departures area of Tbilisi airport on December 11.
The court ordered that Ugulava post bail of 2,000 lari, or $700, and hand over all of his IDs to investigators.
Ugulava, who could not attend the court session for health reasons, told reporters that his trial was "total lawlessness and an order from the authorities."
"There is a great deal of CCTV cameras at the airport. There were a great many witnesses ready to testify to the investigation that it was me who was attacked by two well-built guys, but the court refused to watch those video recordings and interview witnesses," he said.
Ugulava said that he was going to Cyprus on December 11 to meet with several foreign citizens and pass sensitive information about billionaire and Georgian Dream ruling party leader Bedzina Ivanishvili to them.
"I intended to inform several foreign citizens of Ivanishvili's previous activities, about how he got rich, but I wasn't allowed to do that because of a provocation being staged at the airport," he said.