tbilisi_city_court

Tbilisi City Court. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Court on Thursday placed five Defense Ministry officials in pre-trial detention.

The five are charged with embezzling more than four million lari in connection with a tender for building high speed Internet.

The hearing was closed because the case is classified as top secret.

Prosecutor Jarji Tsiklauri explained to journalists that the court considered it necessary to keep the five in detention in order to prevent them from making undue use of their official position and influencing witnesses.

Defense lawyer Levan Samushia said the court’s decision was ‘completely fair’ but that the entire case is ‘a shame’. The defense lawyers plan to appeal the ruling.

The pre-trial hearing will be held on December 11.