Court of Appeal judge Levan Murusidze going to appeal to the Prosecutor’s Office against the former deputy head of the Security Service, Soso Gogashvili. Murusidze announced this at the session of the Supreme Council of Justice.

“I want to respond to one fact, it will be clear to you, to everyone, that it is very difficult for me to talk about this. I have to talk about a person with whom I have a close relationship of about 25 years. We are talking about Soso Gogashvili, who made a statement that judge Mikheil Chinchaladze used SSG to put pressure on a specific judge.

I would like to explain to the Council of Justice and the public what led to the publication of the mentioned statement. Please note that criminal prosecution is underway against Mr. Soso. Accordingly, when he was detained and the issue of the restraining order had to be discussed in court, based on our relationship, he contacted me with a letter of such content that if there was no help from my side and the restraining order was not changed against him, he would take all kinds of steps, he would accuse us (the court system, in general, I, Mikheil Chinchaladze, etc.) of things that were absolutely unthinkable and would bring maximum discredit to the court.

After that, when there was a question about the seizure of real estate, I was also informed that if I did not intervene and ensure that the said measures were not used, he would make a terrible mess, another discrediting of the court system. Accordingly, he made one statement, which you all know, as if Mikheil Chinchaladze was putting pressure on judge Besik Alavidze with the help of SSG. After the publication of this statement, I was notified for the third time – “you see, the discrediting of the court has begun, therefore, if you do not take decisive steps and help me, the said discrediting will continue and take on unprecedented proportions. There will be accusations of such facts, with which the judicial system cannot be whitewashed in any way”. Therefore, I decided to first of all inform the Council of Justice, and then I intend to respond - I will contact the Prosecutor’s Office with some evidence in the near future.

There is no [pressure] on Beso Alavidze. Alavidze has been interviewed 3 times regarding the Rustavi 2 case. 2 interviews were given before a decision was made on the Rustavi 2 case. He has written one written statement. When Nika Gvaramia claimed that Chinchaladze was putting pressure on the judge, 3 judges, including Alavidze, said in a written statement that there was no pressure on him.

Later, some letters were sent to Paata Katamadze, threatening letters or letters of praise, I don’t remember. A criminal case was initiated in the Prosecutor’s Office, it became public, where Alavidze claimed that there was no pressure on him in the given case.

Also, when the Rustavi 2 case was over, he gave an interview and stated that there was no pressure on him. A year after the expiration of the term, as he himself claims, there were certain meetings with NGOs and diplomats, and he later said that he was under pressure. This was captured by political circles and NGOs, they did not look at the fact that Beso Alavidze had denied the said fact 3 times, and they turned to the Prosecutor’s Office for investigation and said that it is necessary to react. Gogashvili’s letter followed exactly that. Since he told me during the third meeting, time is short and if there is no help for him, there will be a flood of discrediting the court, and the judicial system should expect this, I think the Council of Justice, in this case, is obliged to protect the judicial system”, - said Murusidze.