Georgia's former PM, justice minister convicted for forcible takeover of winery
TBILISI. May 3 (Interfax) - The Tbilisi City Court on Wednesday convicted former Georgian Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili and former Justice Minister Zurab Adeishvili in the case involving the forcible takeover of the Akuri Winery in Telavi in 2004.
Georgian media said the court sentenced Merabishvili to three years in prison and Adeishvili to two years in prison, but the prison terms were reduced to two years and three months and one year and six months respectively under the law on amnesty.
Merabishvili is now serving a prison term in Georgia on other charges, and Adeishvili has been wanted by Georgian prosecutors since December 2012.
Despite several criminal cases opened against Adeishvili, the sentence in the Akuri Winery case is the first one handed down on him.
The criminal case involving the Akuri Winery was opened after a new administration came to power in Georgia in 2012. The prosecution determined that Merabishvili and Adeishvili personally exerted psychological pressure on Teimuraz Megrelishvili and Nodar Modebadze, the owners of the winery, who had to give up the plant and all rights to it under that pressure.
The lawyers for Merabishvili and Adeishvili told reporters on Wednesday the sentence is politicized as the prosecutors failed to provide compelling evidence of their clients' guilt.
