New Details of Enveri Case

Information Agency Pirveli

The hearing of appeal complaint of defendants in the case of famous special operation Enveri will supposedly start from the middle of December.

The lawyer of one of the detained pilots Davit Meskhidze charged with the espionage stated the corresponding to Pirveli:

“The procedures have already been violated. The hearing in the Appeal Court should end in three months after the case is filed. The appeal complaint which was sitting in Batumi City Court Chancellery for three months for unknown reasons reached the Appeal Court and has been sitting in the court for more than a month now. We were told that the trial would be scheduled for the middle of December, but in my opinion the case hearing will not start until January,” – the lawyer stated to Pirveli.

As the experts assume the hearing is protracted due to the fact that the investigation could not obtain the confessions from the main figures in the case and are trying to break them in this way.

As for the current state of the convicts, according to Nana Tsuladze, the lawyer of Shikoian and Gevorkian detained through the special operation, the convicts who are serving their penalty in #8 Gldani prison do not have any claims regarding the prison conditions.

It should be noted that Shikoian and Gevorkian are still applying the right to remain silent. As for the other convicts, including the pilots detained under the charge of espionage, they do not confess the crime.

The lawyers refrain to talk about the case details due to the fact that the case is filed under the Griffith “secret”.

According to the reliable source, there is an individual in the case who was interrogated as “Giorgi Abashidze” at the trial.

“As the prosecution side states this individual was planted as an agent in Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia and by the surveillance of Georgian side he passed the information allowed by Tbilisi to Russia. From Moscow he delivered information necessary for “us.” Then this individual was won over by Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia and for a while it played a role of double agent. Later it was won over by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia. As “Giorgi Abashidze” tells at one of the dinners when his “allies” were drunk, he was told that “they needed more information about the marine forces from him and they already knew enough about the air forces.” And then they pointed to some Kvachantiradze. Kvachantiradze is one of those fourteen pilots who successfully graduated from Batumi Aviation School. After short military service he moved to Moscow. The search was already announced on him by that time. Among the detained pilots “Abashidze” did not name anybody. However, this is how the investigation came to 6 pilots who were friends with Kvachantiradze. Later they were detained as well, but their charge is still not confirmed,” – the source tells.

As Pirveli found out regarding the above mentioned pilots, during Aslan Abashidze’s period – in 2001 only 14 students out of 60 managed to successfully graduate from Batumi Aviation School and receive the relevant diplomas. Six of them were already serving the sentence, 8 were fired from job.

Viacheslav Pluzhnikov, Gabriel Ustalishvili, Davit Meskhidze, Gela Kakabadze, Gocha Diasamidze and Tariel Abashidze are among the pilots detained under the framework of the special operation Enveri.

“These boys did not participate in the war actions during the war of 2008. However, they took the guns out of the hot spots and then put off the fire in Borjomi forests. Saakashvili gave them awards for this. Before the detention, they were the ones who transported the President. One of them was detained at the runway of the airport. The prosecution states that they were under surveillance for years. Let us say that they did not have evidence to detain them up until that time, but did not they have the suspicion?! How could they trust him President’s life in these conditions?! There are supposed “flash cards” in the case which were discovered at different places – some on the top of the fireplace, some in the corner of icons, in eye-catching places. Besides, these “flash cards” do not contain any secret: this is information about the everyday schedule of the pilots which was hanging in every room of the vase and once in a year – on the day of pilots when the relatives and family members were allowed in the base to see the pilots, this information was accessible to anyone. The funniest thing is the court statement. The resolution part reads: “… in uncertain time, uncertain circumstances, uncertain information was transferred…” This tells it all,” – the source states and refuses to reveal his name since the case is still filed under the Griffith secret.

In 2010 the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained 15 individuals including 6 pilots through the special operation Enveri who, according to official information, were in secret relations with the Main Intelligence Directorate of General Headquarters of Russia’s Defense Ministry.

The names of 13 detainees were revealed right from the beginning. As for the rest two, according to official information, considering “active cooperation with investigation,” the plea-bargain agreements were made with them and their names stayed to be confidential.

Later the plea-bargain agreement was made with one of the 13 detainees – Gabriel Ustalishvili and he was sentenced to 6 months in prison. He is already free by this time.

Then it was found out that the plea-bargain agreement was made with Petre Devrishidze who, according to disseminated information, is a relative of the head of Main Agency of Adjara of Constitutional Security Department. The latter, according to unofficial information, was awarded by Vakhtang Gorgasali honor award.

Batumi City Court passed long-term sentences against the main figures of the case. Particularly, Eduard Abdulaev, Armen Gevorkian, Ruben Chikoian, Tariel Abashidze, Gela Kakbadze, Gocha Diasamidze and Davit Meskhidze were found guilty in espionage and were sentenced to 11 years in prison. Gela Kakabadze was found guilty in illegal purchase and keeping of explosive and was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months as an aggregate of crimes. Ruslan Galogre and Iuri Srkilnikov were sentenced to 14-14 imprisonment under the charge of entering and working for the intelligence service of foreign country.

The former Vice-Premier of Adjara Badri Meladze stated in the interview given to Moskovski Komsomolets on November 15th of 2010 regarding Enveri case, that “this whole case was arranged by Devrishadze and Pataridze, “Pataridze received star, Devrishadze will be imprisoned for a while and then released.”

“Pataridze and Devrishidze have joint business: a little before this case they purchased the fishing boat. Pataridze’s brother was serving sentence in Russia and Devrishadze helped to release him. Along with Pataridze Devrishadze provided Georgian army with tinned meat,” – Meladze stated.