Eduard Shevardnadze's son-in-law detained trying to leave Georgia

The son-in-law of former Georgian President Eduard Shevarnadze, Gia Dzhokhtaberidze, the head of Georgia's biggest mobile communication company Magtikom, was detained at Tbilisi airport on Friday morning.

According to the Novosti-Georgia information agency, he was about to fly to Paris. The detention operation, which was headed by Georgian Prosecutor General Irakly Okruashvili, was shown by several Tbilisi TV companies.

At the moment of detention, Dzhokhtaberidze told reporters that his arrest was unsanctioned.

In his turn, the prosecutor general told reporters that Dzhokhtaberidze rendered resistance to law enforcers when they were detaining him in the plane's passenger compartment.

The prosecutor general said that the ex-President's son-in-law, who was twice summoned to the prosecutor's office to give evidence (on January 26 and February 17), intended to fly to Paris and then to the United States, though the investigation recommended him not to leave Georgia.

According to preliminary data, Dzhokhtaberidze is accused of evading tax payment in especially big amounts.