Georgian Defence Ministry will file a lawsuit against ex-Defence Minister Davit Kezerashvili and former Head of the State Procurement Department, Aleksandre Ninua.

The Ministry said over EUR 5 million envisaged for the military drills in 2008 were misappropriated through a corrupted deal without the supply of service. The Ministry demands reimbursement of the inflicted financial damage.

“The lawsuit has to do with embezzled tens and hundreds of US dollars during Kezerashvili’s term in office,” Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said.

Kezerashvili’s lawyer Giorgi Gelkhauri said the criminal case filed against the ex-defence minister had nothing to do with justice. “Formula TV Company and its editorial policy are what matters here. Current authorities are trying to squash freedom of speech,” he said.

Lawyer of Georgia’s former defence minister under the United National Movement (UNM) government David Kezerashvili, who holds a 51% stake in Formula TV, pledged the defence would appeal the verdict of the Georgian Supreme Court in the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria also backed the idea that Kezerashvili’s case is related to a media issue. She said she suspected that filing the lawsuit against Davit Kezerashvili nine years later was linked to the attack against critical media since Kezerashvili was the founder of Formula TV.

“I have this impression, and I will be interested in the case. We will study the court decision,” Lomjaria claimed.

The watchdog organizations also support this point. Executive Director of Transparency International Georgia, Eka Gigauri, said Kezerashvili’s case had to do with the government’s pressure on the free media.

The Georgian Supreme Court sentenced Kezerashvili to five years in prison in absentia on September 7 for embezzling more than five million euros which should have been spent on a military exercise back in 2008, when Kezerashvili was in office.