Officials Arrested in Georgia, Accused of Intending to Transfer Territory to Azerbaijan

Baku / 08.20.20 / Turan: While Azerbaijan is waging a war for its territory with Armenia, a new political campaign has begun in Georgia over Azerbaijani territory.

On October 7 (2020), the Prosecutor General's Office of this country opened criminal cases against former members of the state commission for border demarcation and delimitation Iveri Melashvili and Natalia Ilyicheva. They were arrested on the same day. They are accused of a crime of facilitating the transfer to Azerbaijan of the territory where the Keshikchi Dag monastery is located (David Gareji - Georgian version).

It is alleged that they concealed an important state map of 1936-1937, on the basis of which the commission could conduct negotiations on territorial terms favorable to Georgia.

The prosecutor's office demands the arrest of Melashvili and Ilyicheva, and they can be sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. Melashvili works in the Georgian Foreign Ministry, and Ilyicheva serves in the Border Police. As experts, they were involved in the work of the commission on delimitation-demarcation of the Georgian-Azerbaijani border in 2006-2017. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, due to the fault of the arrested, Georgia could lose an area of ​​3,500 hectares during the negotiations.

Melashvili and Ilyicheva reject the accusations, saying that the original map seized from Ilyicheva's office is inaccurate, the coordinates do not match, and therefore this document was not involved in the work of the commission. According to Melashvili, the disputed section of the border has not been agreed with Azerbaijan, and therefore there is no crime fact.

Georgian commentators in the press write about two versions of the reasons for the unexpected scandal. In less than a month, the next parliamentary elections will be held in Georgia. Russian businessman David Khidasheli, who is close to the unofficial leader of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, submitted information about the card to the Ministry of Defense. Thus, the authorities got an opportunity to accuse former President Saakashvili, during the years of whose rule, according to the investigation, the accused hid the map, of wanting to transfer the territory to Azerbaijan. Saakashvili's party is considered a rival of the ruling party in the struggle for power in Georgia.

The second version is an attempt to strike at the rear of Azerbaijan.

"When Azerbaijan is in a state of war, the statement of the Georgian government that territories were transferred to Azerbaijan under the previous government is not clear and poses a huge threat to the current processes in our region," said Salome Samadashvili, representative of the opposition United National Movement party,” quoted the Georgian website Jam News.

Protest actions are expected in Tbilisi in connection with the new scandal. -0—