GEORGIA: Presidential Pardon & more – 11th Sep 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 11th of September twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

On Friday the 5th, the Georgian Dream or the Kotsebi President Misha Kavelashvili pardoned Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, founders and leaders of the Coalition Strong Georgia (or Dzlieri - Lelo). Both were serving eight-month sentences for refusing to appear before a parliamentary investigative committee that was tasked with probing alleged political abuses under the previous government.

Kavelashvili had earlier said he would pardon opposition leaders if they requested it, but Khazaradze and Japaridze rejected the offer. This time, the pardon came unconditionally. He explained that he wanted to ensure no one could accuse the electoral process of being unfair, as Dzlieri - Lelo plans to run in municipal elections.

Khazaradze said they did not expect the release, and that this move was aimed at sowing mistrust among the four main opposition parties. Recall that two of them are boycotting the vote.

Speaking of the investigative committee, pro-Russian media in the occupied region of South Ossetia says Georgia admitted responsibility for starting the two thousand eight war against them. They point to a new 460-page report from the committee led by ruling party MP Tea Tsulukiani, which reviews decisions made during ex-president Misha Saakashvili’s time in power.

The report says Saakashvili's party dragged the army into the conflict, counted on foreign backing, and launched an assault on Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, on the 8th of August, two thousand eight.

Russian and South Ossetian outlets present the document as proof that their long-standing narrative is correct and that Russia’s military actions against Georgia were justified.

On Wednesday, the 3rd, the Kotsebi opened a mayoral campaign office on Meliqishvili Street in central Tbilisi, instantly turning the spot into a new tension point. The very next day, pro-European demonstrators gathered outside to protest the government and recent court rulings that sent political prisoners to jail. Tensions rose quickly when the Kotsebi supporters hurled insults and attacked journalists. Beqa Odiasharia, a former MP from the Kotsebi, who lives nearby, showed up looking messy and confused and shouted offensive slurs at protesters.

The situation escalated again a day later when Kotsi Titushkebi, thugs operating under government protection, assaulted protesters marching by the office. Police stood by without intervening. Reacting to the attack, even more pro-European protesters showed up the next day, but this time, a heavy police presence separated the two sides.

Check out the videos of the attack and the Kotsebi MP with the link in the show notes.

For months now, we have been covering the case of Mzia Amaglobeli, journalist and founder of independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti. Last month, she was sentenced to two years in prison for slapping Irakli Dgebuadze, Batumi’s chief of police. She said it was a reaction to how he treated her several hours earlier, while she was detained in connection with another case. She said he spat on her, insulted her, and ordered officers not to let her drink water or use the toilet.

Despite sentencing Mzia to two years, the Kotsebi regime seems to have decided that keeping Dgebuadze, who stirred a lot of bad publicity, in such a visible position a month before municipal elections was a poor PR move and moved him to Tbilisi’s Criminal Police Department to lead the International Cooperation Unit.

On that note about the municipal elections, in a last-minute move, on Saturday the 6th, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the government would invite OSCE/ODIHR to observe municipal elections set for the 4th of October.

However, a day later, the organization responded to the request, saying that receiving an invitation with less than a month before the elections does not give them enough time to prepare and allocate the resources necessary, so they will not be sending observers.

In related news, on Tuesday the 9th, Georgia’s election administration published the official list of candidates for the municipal elections. Gakharia’s For Georgia or Sakartvelostvis and Dzlieri - Lelo registered their candidates in only thirty-six out of sixty-five municipalities, leaving the Kotsebi either completely uncontested in the rest of them or against other small parties, who have no chance to win. Party representatives said they chose this approach deliberately, focusing their resources on major cities like Tbilisi, Batumi, and Kutaisi, where opposition support is strongest.

Next up, on Saturday, the 7th, a shooting broke out at the popular Tbilisi restaurant Qvevri. Police opened an investigation into illegal gun possession after a fight between Lasha Baslandze, the restaurant’s tenant, and Shalva Tibuа, the property owner. Witnesses say Baslandze fired a gun. The incident left a security guard injured and Tibuа with a mild concussion.

Baslandze is a close friend of Tbilisi Mayor Kaladze, who refused to make a comment when journalists asked about the incident. Even when he was shown a video, he deflected, saying he was not informed about the case and did not want to say something that would mislead people. Later, Basladze made a post on Facebook, thanking Kaladze for backing him up.

For a month now, the Kotsebi has been cracking down on corruption. Whether this is just a PR move before the municipal elections or a conflict inside the party is unknown. On Saturday, the 5th, the State Security Service arrested a deputy governor of the Mtskhera-Mtianteti region, eastern Georgia. Authorities say he demanded 400,000 dollars from a foreign citizen in exchange for changing the status of two agricultural plots into non-agricultural land, which allows building commercial properties.

Security services recorded him when the foreigner handed him part of the money, which led to his arrest. He now faces charges that could lead to imprisonment from eleven to fifteen years.

On Thursday, the 4th, the Kotsebi passed new laws targeting financial crimes. The package requires convicted offenders or their relatives to repay damages to victims. If compensation isn’t paid, courts can seize property, freeze assets, or ban offenders from traveling abroad for up to sixteen years.

The rules apply to fraud, embezzlement, extortion, property damage over 10,000 lari (about $4,000 dollars), abuse of power, money laundering, and cybercrimes.

The legislation was first introduced after Gogi Bachiashvili, a former aide to Bidzina Ivanishvili, was sentenced to prison for defrauding his former boss of several hundred million dollars’ worth of bitcoin. Bachiashvili argues that Ivanishvili had only given him a loan for investments, which he says he repaid in full.

In other news, on Friday, the 5th, an Armenian court approved the extradition of Georgian citizen Gogi Kinoyan to Russia. He had been arrested on Wednesday the 3rd. Kinoyan fought for Ukraine against Russia and was arrested at the Armenia–Georgia border. Moscow has listed him as wanted, along with other Georgians who joined the conflict.

There is still a forty-day hold before extradition can take place. His family had informed the Georgian embassy about the arrest, but Georgian authorities say they hadn’t received any details from their Armenian counterparts. The family fears that if he is handed over to Russia, he could face torture or worse.

On Wednesday, the 10th, Germany’s Foreign Affairs Ministry responded to Shalva Papuashvili, Chairman of the Kotsebi Parliament, after he accused Ambassador Peter Fischer of supporting violence and extremism by being biased in favor of pro-European protesters. Berlin called the accusations baseless and said spreading this disinformation harms German-Georgian relations. Officials criticized the Kotsebi for constantly using aggressive language against the ambassador and said that Fischer represents the German government.

Finally, The Rule of Law Lab at New York University has released a report titled Democracy Under Siege: Georgia’s Autocratic Takeover. It analyses Georgia’s deepening authoritarianism after the October twenty twenty-four elections, when the Kotsebi declared victory despite reports of major electoral violations.

The report says that under Bidzina Ivanishvili’s leadership, state institutions weakened, became politicized, and were used to entrench one-party rule.

The authors recommend stronger international pressure, including targeted sanctions against officials, to counter the erosion of democratic institutions.

Wanna read the full report in English or Georgian? Link in the Show Notes.

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

Do you want to send an episode? You can download any show at www.rorshok.com/georgia as an .mp3 file. Link in the show notes!

Nakhvamdis!