TBILISI, SEPT. 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A judge in Tbilisi convicted Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze of trying to murder the secretary of Patriarch Ilia II, a case that has grip the nation for the past eight months.
Mamaladze was arrested in February trying to board a flight to Berlin, where the Patriarch and his entourage were staying, carrying cyanide. Initially, it was thought the poison was meant for the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church but later it emerged that Mamaladze had intended to poison his secretary Shorena Tetruashvili because of a grudge he held. Ms Tetruashvili is the influential confident of the 84-year-old Patriarch.
Ilia II is one of the most powerful people in Georgia. He has been in this position since 1977.
The bearded and bespectacled Mamaladze has denied the charges and said that he will contest the verdict at the European Court of Human Rights. He chose not to be present in the court when the verdict was read out by the judge. There was no jury in this case. His lawyers stormed out, though, saying that the judge had been pressured into making this decision.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)