Verdict Is Not Handed in to the Lawyers of the Convicted for “Enveri” Case

News Agency “Pirveli”

The lawyers of the people convicted for the charge in the framework of the famous special operation “Enveri”, have not been delivered the verdict yet. Gela Nikolaishvili, lawyer of convicted pilot Gocha Diasamidze, told the News Agency Pirveli that the court does not hand in the motivation part of the verdict to the lawyers saying the case is Top Secret.

“There are a lot of curious situations around Enveri case. First of all, we have not received the verdict and their explanation is that the case is Top Secret. The motive is completely absurd because we, lawyers attended the full process of the case discussion and nothing is secret for us. Besides, I have just learned that the case was not filed to the Appeal Court yet; moreover, it is still in Batumi City Court. As a rule, the case must be filed to the court within one month term but in this particular case three months have passed and it is still in the chancellery. Apparently, the government has not agreed yet what to do with this noisy case which does not contain any evidence and tries to prolong the process,” said the lawyer.

As for the current conditions of the convicted, lawyer of the convicted Shikoyan and Gevorkyan Nana Tsuladze said her clients serve term in Gldani prison # 8 and do not complain about conditions in the custody.

“They do not complain about conditions and treatment in the custody,” said Tsuladze.

It is noteworthy that Shokoyan and Gevorkyan still enjoy their right to silence. Other convicted - the pilots, do not plead guilty.

The lawyers refrain from speaking about case details due to Top Secret status.

Reliable sources of information, who is aware of the case details, said that there is a person –certain Giorgi Abashidze, who was interrogated during the trial.

“The defense side alleges that the person was spying for Georgia in the GRUand he was providing Russia with the information according to Tbilisi’s instructions. Later, the GRU won the person over and he started spying for both parties. Later on, Georgian side managed to win him over again. “Giorgi Abashidze” told that at one evening-party, when his allies were drunk, they told him: “We need you to bring us information from naval forces; we already receive information from air forces.”  So, they accused certain Kvachantiradze who is one of those 14 pilots who successfully graduated Batumi Aviation College during Aslan Abashidze’s governance in Adjara Autonomous Republic. He had cooperated with them for a short time and then moved to Moscow. Currently, he is sought. Abashidze did not blame any of the detained pilots but the investigation discovered those 6 pilots who were friends of Kvachantiradze. Later, they were detained but the charge has not been proved yet,” the source stated.

Pirveli found out that during Aslan Abashidze’s governance – in 2001- only 14 out of 60 students managed to successfully graduate the Batumi Aviation College and received corresponding diplomas. 6 of them are convicted for espionage now; other 8 were not arrested but sacked.

The pilots detained through the special operation Enveri are Viacheslav Pluzhnikov, Gabriel Ustalishvili, Davit Meskhidze, Gela Kakabadze, Gocha Diasamidze and Tariel Abashidze.

“These boys did not take part in the war actions in 2008. However, they carried weapons from the war zones and put out the fire in Borjomi forests. They received award from Saakashvili as a result. Before the detention, they were the ones who transported the President and his guards. One of them was detained on flight tracker. The prosecution states that they had been under inspection for years. Let us say that they did not have evidence till now to detain them, but had certain suspicions. I want to know how could they trust such suspects with President’s life?! They state that they seized “flash cards” containing secret information which were discovered in their homes in places like above the fireplace, next to the icon place, to say it short, in visible places. Besides, these flash cards do not contain any secret information: this is information about the daily schedule of pilots which are demonstrated on the walls of almost every room of the base, and once in a year on the day of pilots when the relatives and family members are allowed to enter the base, this information becomes accessible for any. The most ridiculous is the court statement. The resolution part reads that the convicts transferred uncertain information at uncertain time in uncertain circumstance… This tells it all,” – the source states and refuses to reveal him/her since the case is classified under the griffin “secret.”

In 2010 the MIA detained 15 people in sum through the special operation Enveri, including 6 pilots who, according to official information, are in secret relations with the Main Intelligence Departments of General Headquarter of Russia’s Defense Ministry (the so-called GRU).

The names of 13 detainees were revealed right away. As for the other two, according to official information, considering “active cooperation with investigation,” the plea-bargain agreement were made with them and thus their names are confidential.

Later, the plea-bargain agreement was made with one of the 13 detainees – Gabriel Ustalishvili as well and he was imposed 6-month imprisonment. He is free now.

Then it was cleared that the plea-bargain agreements was also made with Petre Devrishidze, who according to the disseminated information, is the relative of the head of Adjara Main Agency of Constitutional Security Department. The latter, according to unofficial information, received the first honor award of Vakhtan Gorgasali for “successful completion of special operation Enveri.”

Batumi City Court passed severe sentences against 9 other detainees. Particularly, Eduard Abdulaev, Armen Gevorkian, Ruben Chikoian, Tariel Abashidze, Gela Kakabadze, Gocha Diasamidze and Davit Meskhidze were sentenced to 11-years imprisonment. Gela Kakabadze was found guilty in illegal purchase and keeping of arms as well and was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison. Ruslan Galogre and Iuri Skrilnikov are sentenced to 14 years in prison under the conviction of working for foreign intelligence service.

On November 15th of 2010, the former Vice-President of Adjara region Badri Meladze in an interview with Moskovski Kosmolets stated that “this whole case was arranged by Devrishadze and Pataridze.” “Pataridze received a star; Devrishadze had to sit in the prison for a bit and will be released soon.”

“Pataridze and Devrishadze have joint business: they had launched a fishing-boat not too long ago before this case started. Pataridze’s brother was imprisoned in Russia and he helped Devrishadze to free him. Along with Pataridze, Devrishadze distributed tinned mean among the Georgian army,” – Meladze stated.