Rustavi City Court found a defendant under the custody of GYLA not guilty

On April 5, 2012, Rustavi City Court found defendant Elguja Kavlelishvili under the custody of GYLA not guilty.

Elguja Kavlelishvili was charged under paragraph 1 of Article 362 of the Criminal Code of Georgia – use of forged documents – which envisions a fine or up to 3 years of imprisonment.

Elguja Kavlelishvili is a professional driver. A patrol officer suspected that his driving license was forged since it was not registered in the unified database of patrol police. It served as the basis for launching investigation.

In the process of investigation it turned out that information about the driving license issued in 1994 did not correspond to the information available in the database. The state prosecutor maintained that Elguja Kavlelishvili had purchased from an unidentified individual, at an unidentified time and under unidentified circumstances the BCD driving license which he presented to a patrol police inspector after he was pulled over on December 15, 2011, on the 13th km of Ponichala-Marneuli-Geguti motorway in Gardabani district.

Interests of the accused Kavlelishvili were protected by Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. The defense presented valid evidence that proved Elguja Kavlelishvili’s innocence. Consequently, the judge of Rustavi City Court’s board of criminal cases delivered the verdict of not guilty and acquitted Kavlelishvili.