GEORGIA: Ex-PM’s Confessions & more – 30th Oct 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 30th of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

Last week we reported that police raided the homes of several former officials of the Georgian Dream or the Kotsebi, including Irakli Garibashvili, who was prime minister twice and minister of defense. He was also one of the closest allies of Bidzina Ivanishvili, oligarch and founder of the party, working for him even before Ivanishvili entered politics.

On Friday, the 24th, authorities said Garibashvili was charged with receiving illegal income, which was over six million dollars found in his home during a police raid. This illegal income came from his business activity, which the law prohibits when holding a public office. Officially, his father was running his business, and once a year, he transferred the profit to him as a gift. Garibashvili fully confessed to this crime.

The prosecutor's office demanded one million Lari as bail, which is around 350 thousand dollars, and his passport, and banned him from leaving the country.

Next up. On Friday, the 24th, Giga Avaliani, a twenty-eight-year-old public school teacher, died in a hospital from injuries received during an attack by high schoolers. The news gained widespread attention after his death, but it turned out that the attack took place on the 11th of October, when a teenager hit him in the face, causing him to fall and receive serious injuries.

Several media outlets quickly shared information that the attacker's girlfriend was Avaliani’s student and he grew jealous, thinking there was something between them. Initially, it was reported that several teenagers, as well as the girlfriend, took part in the attack. However, authorities have only arrested two people, an attacker and the person who took video of the attack; he is charged with failing to report a serious crime.

Also on Friday, the 24th, Shalva Papuashvili, the Chair of the Kotsebi parliament, announced the list of the parties they plan to ban, which includes Akhali, the biggest party in the Coalition for Change or Tsvlilebebistvis, with Nika Gvaramia and Nika Melia as leaders, the United National Movement, or the Natsebi, which used to be the biggest opposition party and ran the country before the Kotsebi, and Lelo, the core party in the Coalition Strong Georgia or Dzlieri-Lelo.

Papuashvili said that they don’t plan to ban other opposition parties, because they are too small to pose any threat to the constitutional order. However, this may change in the future. He also said that Gakharia’s For Georgia, or Sakartvelostvis, was exempted because it entered the parliament.

The ruling party will initiate a case in the Constitutional Court to ban these parties.

Speaking of Gakharia’s party…On Sunday, the 26th, just a day before its members officially entered parliament, Rusudan Tevzadze, who had a parliamentary mandate, announced that she was giving up her seat and leaving the party. She said her decision was not directed against her former colleagues, whom she still considers friends and professionals.

According to parliamentary rules, her seat will go to the next candidate on the Sakartvelostvis party list, which holds a total of twelve seats.

For context, Gakharia himself and the first eleven people on his party’s electoral list are not the ones entering parliament. They refused their mandates during the initial boycott but, unlike other opposition parties, they did not fully withdraw their list, which kept the door open for the party’s return to parliament.

Sunday, the 26th, marked one year after the last parliamentary elections and the beginning of the ongoing political crisis in Georgia, resulting in growing authoritarianism of the Kotsebi government, hundreds of pro-European demonstrators assaulted, injured, imprisoned, and a sharp decline in Georgia’s relationship with the West.

Salome Zourabishvili, the fifth president of Georgia, addressed the demonstrators who gathered in front of parliament to mark the occasion. She spoke about the failure of the ruling party to gain international legitimacy, solidarity among the protestors, who gather funds to pay each other’s fines, the families of prisoners of conscience and the bravery of independent journalists who risk everything to perform their professional duty.

On that note about deteriorating relations between Georgia and the West, The Kotsebi decided to skip the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly held in Yerevan, Armenia, marking a new low in Georgia-EU relations. Euronest is a forum that brings together European Parliament members and representatives from Eastern Partnership countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, to discuss regional cooperation and shared goals.

In an open letter to Euronest, the Kotsebi said they are concerned about hostile rhetoric and actions from some European Parliament members, which undermine partnership and mutual respect. The letter accused certain MEPs of supporting convicted opposition figures in Georgia, encouraging protests, and threatening democratic institutions.

Changing gears. On Saturday, the 25th, Authorities arrested three Chinese citizens in Tbilisi for trying to buy two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of uranium. The group reportedly planned to pay 400,000 dollars for the material and then smuggle it to China through Russia. One of them brought nuclear experts to Georgia and started looking for radioactive substances across the country, while others coordinated the plan from China. Security officers identified and arrested the suspects during negotiations over the deal.

On Tuesday, the 28th, the BBC reported on the case of Bella Culley, a thirty-five-weeks-pregnant British citizen who was facing up to twenty years in prison in Georgia for drug smuggling. The nineteen-year-old's family paid half a million lari, which is over 180 thousand dollars, as part of a plea bargain, reducing her sentence to two years.

Georgian authorities arrested her in May at Tbilisi Airport after finding twelve kilograms (twenty-six pounds) of marijuana and two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of hashish in her luggage. Culley said she was forced to carry the drugs.

Her mother, Lyanne Kennedy, confirmed the payment but said final procedures are still pending.

Bella remains in prison and could give birth there if not released soon. Her lawyer said he plans to seek a presidential pardon once the plea deal is finalized.

On Friday, the 24th, authorities detained Basti Mgaloblishvili, journalist and co-founder of independent news outlet Publika. Policemen dressed in civil uniform detained him near his home, took away his phone and held him in a car for an hour. After the news spread, police released him, saying they had mistaken him for someone else. However, Mgaloblishvili said, policemen knew his name, address and even that his grandma was currently living at his home. Publika made an official statement, saying that they see it as an attempt to intimidate free media.

On Monday, the 27th, authorities arrested David Tabidze, the former head of the Municipal Development Fund, for abusing his position in a kindergarten renovation project. Investigators say Tabidze and other fund officials approved 11 million Lari, over 4 million dollars, in advances to construction company Lagi Capital, even though they knew the company had misused earlier funds.

Lagi Capital’s owners already face charges for embezzling nine million Lari, over 3 million dollars, meant for thirty kindergartens.

While the Kotsebi’s anti-corruption campaign is in full swing, it might raise some questions even among its voters about the scope of corruption under the ruling regime.

On Wednesday, the 29th, the Kotsebi-affiliated far-right politicians announced the creation of a new party: United Neutral Georgia. Vato Shaqarashvili, one of the leaders of the party, known for his anti-LGBT and anti-Western views, said that EU bureaucrats and US oligarchs are trying to establish a liberal order in Georgia, that opposition is fully controlled by the West, and that the ruling party still has some illusion about the EU.

The party is against any integration with the EU or NATO and advocates for full political neutrality, which historically has been a position of pro-Russian groups.

Finally, on Tuesday, the 28th, during the Minsk International Conference held in Belarus, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said the West is trying to pull countries in the South Caucasus away from Russia by building new cooperation networks through NATO and the EU. He said Moscow plans to push back using every tool it has and won’t allow countries in the region to be pressured into turning against Moscow.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Did you know that we talk about many places besides Georgia? We’ve got nine country updates! We also have three non-sovereign shows, about the Ocean, the Arctic and Multilateral organizations. Interested? Check out the link in the show notes. Got any feedback? You know how to contact us.

Nakhvamdis!