Georgia jails pro-Russian activists for coup plot

TBILISI, Aug 24 (Reuters) A Georgian court today gave prison sentences of up to 8 1/2 years to 13 pro-Russia opposition activists after finding them guilty of plotting to overthrow the country's pro-Western leadership.

The 13 refused to attend the sentencing in protest against the prosecution. Their lawyers and opposition leaders denounced the trial, saying it was politically motivated and Georgia's justice system was not independent.

Most of the jailed group are linked to the opposition Justice Party led by Igor Giorgadze, a former national security chief who fled Georgia after being accused of being behind a 1995 bomb attack on then-President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Georgia's leadership, which has distanced the ex-Soviet republic from Russia and seeks to join the European Union and NATO, say the Justice Party is financed by Moscow and is used as an instrument to undermine the government.

Giorgadze's niece, Maya Topuria, received the longest prison term of 8 1/2 years.

''The verdict convicting Maia Topuria and her co-defendants is a lie, based entirely on false evidence,'' Topuria's lawyer, Melinda Sarafa, said in a statement.

''But this is not a surprise in a judical system that last year convicted nearly 17,000 of its people and acquitted less than 40,'' she added.

The trial initially included 19 defendents arrested in September 2006, but six were acquitted in the course of hearings.

Irina Sarishvili, formerly head of Giorgadze's charitable fund who now heads the Imedi (Hope) opposition party, said the trial was typical of justice under President Mikhail Saakashvili.

''The courts operate as notaries; they simply do what prosecutors request,'' she told Reuters.

Russia denies any links to Giorgadze, although he often gives interviews to Russian television channels criticising Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer who is viewed with deep mistrust by the Kremlin.

Since Saakashvili came to power on the back of a 2003 bloodless revolution, bilateral relations between Georgia and Russia have gone into steep decline.

They reached their lowest point last year, when Moscow introduced sanctions against Tbilisi and deported hundreds of Georgians living in Russia.

REUTERS PD HS1923