A Georgian court sentenced Okruashvili to prison for falsifying a murder case.

The Tbilisi City Court found former Georgian Defense and Internal Affairs Minister Irakli Okruashvili guilty of the murder of Buta Robakidze by law enforcement officers and sentenced him to five years and three months in prison.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in January 2020, Irakli Okruashvili, leader of the Victorious Georgia party, was accused of abuse of office to conceal the circumstances of the death of 19-year-old Buta Robakidze in November 2004. Okruashvili's associates accused the Georgian authorities of falsifying the case. The father of the murdered man accused Okruashvili of falsifying the case.

Former Interior Minister and former Defense Minister of Georgia Irakli Okruashvili was sentenced to seven years in prison. He was found guilty of abuse of office. According to the politician's lawyer, Mamuka Chabashvili, one of the charges was amnestied, and the final sentence was five years and three months.

According to the prosecutor's office, the guilt of Okruashvili, who headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2004, has been fully proven. In particular, it was proven that he ordered the falsification of evidence in a murder case: police officers planted a machine gun on the young man's body after his death, framing him as the perpetrator, according to Novosti-Georgia news agency.

According to Mamuka Chabashvili, the defense intends to appeal the verdict in the Court of Appeals. In the same case, the court acquitted former Georgian Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili. The prosecutor's office intends to appeal this decision, Interpressnews notes.

"Better late than never!" Okruashvili was sentenced to seven years in the Buta case. "However, I regret that Adeishvili was acquitted for some reason. All other agencies operated under Adeishvili's leadership... I call on the prosecutor's office to heed my just request and pursue justice to the end," Ia Metreveli, Buta Robakidze's mother, wrote on her Facebook page*.