"Mkhedrioni" leader overstayed his prison term

Head of non-government organization "Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights" Nana Kakabadze accused the judiciary of dragging out a case of Giga Gelashvili, one of the leaders of "Mkhedrioni" organization.

On August 29, 1995 Giga Gelashvili was arrested and sentenced in Georgia for his part in the attempt on Shevardnadze's life. Last year he was granted an amnesty by the president and released. On June 20 this year he was detained in Israel for breaking Traffic Code.

Israeli press wrote that "Mkhedrioni"'s leader arrived in Israel with the mission to eliminate some members of the local criminal world. Later Israeli authorities accused him of illegal entry into the country and forging documents. Gelashvili was sentenced to 8 months in prison by an Israeli court. Then the term was reduced to three months for his "exemplary conduct".

Gelashvili was sent to serve part of his sentence in Georgia. Nana Kakabadze said at a press conference held on 23 September, that Gelashvili's term had finished and he ought to be released but Tbilisi's Vake-Saboutalinskiy District Court is taking its time. According to Ms. Kakabadze, the court's chairman Mamoukoi Nozadze told her that they would need a month to discuss his case. She believes that as the sentence is only one and a half pages long, it won't take much more that an hour and a half to consider it.