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Civil.ge
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Civil.ge
Nika Gvaramia Sentenced to Eight Months in Prison for Defying Tsulukiani Commission
Tbilisi City Court Judge Jvebe Nachkebia on July 1 sentenced Nika Gvaramia, leader of the opposition Ahali party, to eight months in prison for refusing to appear before the Tsulukiani Commission – the Georgian Dream parliament's temporary investigative body, chaired by GD veteran Tea Tsulukiani and tasked with probing the alleged crimes committed by former officials. Nika Gvaramia has thus become the seventh person – and sixth opposition figure – sentenced to prison for defying the GD commission's summonses, following Nika Melia , Givi Targamadze , Giorgi Vashadze , Mamuka Khazaradze , Badri Japaradze , and Zurab Japaridze . Former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili remains in pretrial detention, anticipating a similar verdict. All who have received prison sentences have also had their right to hold office stripped for two years. Gvaramia, who has been in pretrial detention since June 16 after refusing to pay court-imposed bail, did not attend today's ruling, following others' examples from recent weeks. The ruling was delivered without media coverage, as new legislative changes passed last week by the GD parliament – banning journalists from filming, photographing, or live broadcasting from court premises without prior consent – have come into force. Nika Gvaramia served as Deputy Prosecutor General, Justice Minister, and Education Minister between 2007 and 2009 under the UNM government. From 2012 to 2019, he was director of the opposition-leaning Rustavi 2 channel. In 2022, Gvaramia was imprisoned after being found guilty of abuse of power related to Rustavi 2 management, but in June 2023, President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned him. After his release, Gvaramia entered politics in early 2024, co-founding the Ahali party with Nika Melia. The Ahali-led Coalition for Change won the majority of opposition votes in the 2024 parliamentary elections, which the opposition claims were rigged. The coalition then revoked their mandates, has boycotted the GD parliament since, and now strongly opposes participating in the local elections scheduled for October 2025. The Georgian Dream parliament's temporary investigative commission , chaired by GD veteran and former Justice and Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani, was initially formed to probe alleged misconduct under the UNM government. Over time, however, it extended its scope to the present day, summoning GD critics, including some who had never been with the UNM. The opposition has refused to appear before the commission, refusing to cooperate with the one-party parliament they consider illegitimate. Former GD Interior Minister and Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, now the leader of the opposition For Georgia party, was the only exception who agreed to testify , while maintaining that his appearance did not amount to legitimizing the rump parliament, which his party has also been boycotting. Giorgi Gakharia has been resummoned by the commission over the Chorchana episode, which the Prosecutor's Office is investigating as 'sabotage.' Currently in Germany, Gakharia offered to testify remotely, to which the Tsulukiani Commission ultimately agreed. The session is scheduled for July 2. Gakharia's party member said his return to Georgia remains undecided due to 'many factors.' Alongside Gakharia, other opposition figures – Nika Gvaramia, Mamuka Khazaradze, and Giorgi Vashadze – were also summoned again, with their testimonies meant to be heard online from prison on June 30. However, they again defied the summonses and did not appear. The commission asked the Prosecutor's Office to open investigations into their renewed defiance. Non-compliance with the Georgian Parliament's temporary investigative commission is a criminal offense, punishable by a fine or up to one year in prison, alongside a ban on holding public office for up to three years. However, the court has not fined anyone and opted for prison sentences. The commission has addressed topics such as alleged human rights abuses, including in prisons and the alleged business racketeering under the UNM rule, as well as the August 2008 war, which it blames on the former administration and imprisoned ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili. It is also looking into activities from 2012 to 2025 that it claims undermined Georgia's foreign policy interests. On June 25, the GD parliament once again extended the commission's mandate until August 5. Tsulukiani, addressing the GD MPs at the plenary session, said the final report of the commission will be 'the gravest' in its assessments. Georgian Dream says that the commission's final report will be submitted to the country's Constitutional Court to ban the UNM and its 'successor parties.' Also Read:
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgia jails third opposition leader as crackdown expands
By Felix Light TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian opposition politician Nika Gvaramia was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday for up to nine months, the latest of several prominent government critics to be jailed. Having weathered mass demonstrations over a disputed October election and a subsequent decision to halt talks on joining the European Union, Georgian authorities have moved to clamp down on leading figures of the protest movement. Gvaramia had refused to testify to a parliamentary commission investigating alleged wrongdoing under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was in power from 2004 to 2012. If convicted of failing to comply with the commission, he could be jailed for up to one year. Gvaramia is a leader of the pro-Western Coalition for Change bloc which came second in the October election that the opposition rejected as fraudulent. The government rejected the allegation, but two U.S. polling organisations said there was evidence of manipulation. Gvaramia did not attend his court hearing, instead reporting to prison before the verdict was announced, in what his party said was an effort to show the decision was pre-determined by a biased court. In a post on Facebook, he wrote: "Not one step back! Our homeland is behind us! The oligarchy must fall! Glory to Georgia!" Two other Coalition for Change leaders, Zurab Japaridze and Nika Melia, are already in jail on similar charges. A media entrepreneur who served under Saakashvili in a series of ministerial roles, Gvaramia was previously imprisoned for abuse of office from 2022 to 2023, in a case Western countries said was politically motivated. Traditionally one of the Soviet Union's most pro-Western and democratic successor states, Georgia has moved in a sharply authoritarian direction in the past two years, with the ruling Georgian Dream party passing a series of laws critics have described as draconian. Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister widely seen as the country's most powerful man, has repeatedly pledged to ban opposition parties, whilst also presiding over warming ties with Russia and souring relations with the West. Earlier this week, authorities issued court summons to over a dozen activists, journalists and opposition politicians on charges of insulting ruling party lawmakers. On Thursday, a court jailed a 21-year-old protester for four and a half years for assaulting police, in a case government critics have said is fabricated.
The Star
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Georgia jails third opposition leader as crackdown expands
FILE PHOTO: Leader of the Coalition for Change party Nika Gvaramia, who was arrested amid Georgian opposition protests against the government's decision to suspend the European Union accession talks, reacts inside an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia December 6, 2024. REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze/File photo TBILISI (Reuters) -Georgian opposition politician Nika Gvaramia was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday for up to nine months, the latest of several prominent government critics to be jailed. Having weathered mass demonstrations over a disputed October election and a subsequent decision to halt talks on joining the European Union, Georgian authorities have moved to clamp down on leading figures of the protest movement. Gvaramia had refused to testify to a parliamentary commission investigating alleged wrongdoing under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was in power from 2004 to 2012. If convicted of failing to comply with the commission, he could be jailed for up to one year. Gvaramia is a leader of the pro-Western Coalition for Change bloc which came second in the October election that the opposition rejected as fraudulent. The government rejected the allegation, but two U.S. polling organisations said there was evidence of manipulation. Gvaramia did not attend his court hearing, instead reporting to prison before the verdict was announced, in what his party said was an effort to show the decision was pre-determined by a biased court. In a post on Facebook, he wrote: "Not one step back! Our homeland is behind us! The oligarchy must fall! Glory to Georgia!" Two other Coalition for Change leaders, Zurab Japaridze and Nika Melia, are already in jail on similar charges. A media entrepreneur who served under Saakashvili in a series of ministerial roles, Gvaramia was previously imprisoned for abuse of office from 2022 to 2023, in a case Western countries said was politically motivated. Traditionally one of the Soviet Union's most pro-Western and democratic successor states, Georgia has moved in a sharply authoritarian direction in the past two years, with the ruling Georgian Dream party passing a series of laws critics have described as draconian. Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister widely seen as the country's most powerful man, has repeatedly pledged to ban opposition parties, whilst also presiding over warming ties with Russia and souring relations with the West. Earlier this week, authorities issued court summons to over a dozen activists, journalists and opposition politicians on charges of insulting ruling party lawmakers. On Thursday, a court jailed a 21-year-old protester for four and a half years for assaulting police, in a case government critics have said is fabricated. (Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Straits Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Georgia jails third opposition leader as crackdown expands
FILE PHOTO: Leader of the Coalition for Change party Nika Gvaramia, who was arrested amid Georgian opposition protests against the government's decision to suspend the European Union accession talks, reacts inside an enclosure for defendants during a court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia December 6, 2024. REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze/File photo TBILISI - Georgian opposition politician Nika Gvaramia was placed in pre-trial detention on Friday for up to nine months, the latest of several prominent government critics to be jailed. Having weathered mass demonstrations over a disputed October election and a subsequent decision to halt talks on joining the European Union, Georgian authorities have moved to clamp down on leading figures of the protest movement. Gvaramia had refused to testify to a parliamentary commission investigating alleged wrongdoing under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who was in power from 2004 to 2012. If convicted of failing to comply with the commission, he could be jailed for up to one year. Gvaramia is a leader of the pro-Western Coalition for Change bloc which came second in the October election that the opposition rejected as fraudulent. The government rejected the allegation, but two U.S. polling organisations said there was evidence of manipulation. Gvaramia did not attend his court hearing, instead reporting to prison before the verdict was announced, in what his party said was an effort to show the decision was pre-determined by a biased court. In a post on Facebook, he wrote: "Not one step back! Our homeland is behind us! The oligarchy must fall! Glory to Georgia!" Two other Coalition for Change leaders, Zurab Japaridze and Nika Melia, are already in jail on similar charges. A media entrepreneur who served under Saakashvili in a series of ministerial roles, Gvaramia was previously imprisoned for abuse of office from 2022 to 2023, in a case Western countries said was politically motivated. Traditionally one of the Soviet Union's most pro-Western and democratic successor states, Georgia has moved in a sharply authoritarian direction in the past two years, with the ruling Georgian Dream party passing a series of laws critics have described as draconian. Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister widely seen as the country's most powerful man, has repeatedly pledged to ban opposition parties, whilst also presiding over warming ties with Russia and souring relations with the West. Earlier this week, authorities issued court summons to over a dozen activists, journalists and opposition politicians on charges of insulting ruling party lawmakers. On Thursday, a court jailed a 21-year-old protester for four and a half years for assaulting police, in a case government critics have said is fabricated. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
