GEORGIA: Sabotage Charges & more – 13th Nov 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 13th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

On Thursday, the 6th, the Prosecutor’s Office launched criminal proceedings against major opposition figures, including Misha Saakashvili, Gogi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, Zura Girchi Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.

Authorities accuse them of helping foreign countries impose sanctions on Georgia, spreading false information about the country’s involvement in the Russia–Ukraine war, and pushing for violent protests after losing the twenty twenty-four parliamentary elections.

Authorities say the protests after last year's parliamentary elections turned into violent clashes that injured police officers and caused major property damage. The politicians face various charges, including sabotage, aiding foreign interests, and inciting government overthrow. Possible prison sentences range from two to fifteen years.

On Wednesday, the 12th, the Prosecutor’s Office filed two charges against Gogi Gakharia, leader of the opposition party For Georgia or Sakartvelostvis. Both cases relate to his time as Minister of Interior under the Kotsebi, before he became Prime Minister.

Prosecutors accuse him of mishandling Gavrilov Night on the 20th of June, twenty nineteen, when police used rubber bullets and tear gas against demonstrators, some trying to storm the parliament building. Two people lost vision in one eye and a dozen suffered serious injuries. Authorities say Gakharia ordered special forces to disperse the crowd without warning demonstrators or giving them time to leave. His actions that day helped him get promoted to Prime Minister, as the ruling party and voters saw him as a hero. This charge alone could cost him nine to thirteen years in prison.

The second charge concerns setting up a police checkpoint near the South Ossetia occupation line, which he had no authority to do and which may have escalated the conflict.

Next up, an update to a story we have been reporting on previous shows. On Tuesday, the 11th, the Court of Appeals began hearing the case of Mzia Amaglobeli, founder and editor of the independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti. The court of first instance convicted her of resisting police officers during pro-European protests and sentenced her to two years in prison.

The Prosecutor’s Office is appealing the decision, arguing that Mzia should have been convicted on the original charge of attacking a police officer, which carries a harsher sentence. The defense, on the other hand, insists she is innocent and should be released.

The case has drawn additional attention because Marina Siradze, one of the three judges presiding over it, not only studied in Moscow but also worked for Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs for nine years.

Peter Fischer, the German Ambassador to Georgia, returned to Tbilisi three weeks after Germany’s Foreign Ministry recalled him for consultations. Fischer has been the target of the Kotsebi politicians and their propaganda media for months. They portrayed him as a key foreign figure supporting opposition parties and their radical agenda. He was even summoned to Georgia’s Foreign Ministry in September and reminded of the Vienna Convention, which forbids ambassadors from interfering in a country’s internal affairs.

Despite this, Fischer returned to Tbilisi on Saturday, the 8th, posting on Twitter that he was happy to be back and grateful for the solidarity and support he received from many Georgians. Germany’s Foreign Ministry also posted on Twitter, saying Fischer has the full support of the German government.

In other news. On Tuesday, the 11th, a Turkish military cargo plane crashed in Georgia near the border with Azerbaijan. The aircraft was flying from Azerbaijan back to Turkey with around twenty military personnel on board. Everyone on the plane died in the crash.

Both Georgian and Turkish sides launched investigations to find out what caused the collision. Leaders from Georgia and Azerbaijan expressed their condolences to Turkey.

One person who lives near the crash site was able to take a video of the plane spiraling out of control. You can check it out with the link in the show notes.

This week, several parents of children with Type 1 diabetes posted on social media that they can no longer find the insulin their kids need to survive. For years, they received the drug NovoRapid through the government’s diabetes program, but pharmacies recently ran out completely.

Health officials told families to switch to Apidra, a similar insulin, but parents say the change isn’t simple. Kids need hospital supervision to adjust doses safely, and Apidra isn’t approved for children under six.

The Health Minister blamed the shortage on the Danish company Novo Nordisk for failing to deliver on its contract, while saying another supplier, Sanofi, will cover demand.

Parents remain anxious, unsure about their options and when NovoRapid will be restocked.

On Saturday, the 7th, Authorities arrested Vladimer Stepanian, a Georgian businessman connected to the ruling party, for illegally building hotels, a cable car system, a ski slope, and a toboggan track in Bakuriani (southern Georgia), the most popular skiing destination in the country. Investigators say he made tens of millions of lari from the construction.

Former Prime Minister Gharibashvili, who is now facing charges over illegal income, visited and praised the hotel and its infrastructure.

Stepanian has donated multiple times to the Kotsebi party. Authorities are also examining whether any politicians benefited from his projects. If convicted, he could face up to twelve years in prison.

In somewhat similar news but on a far smaller scale, police arrested two politicians from the Kotsebi in Kvareli, eastern Georgia. One of them, Levan Geladze, is the deputy mayor, and the other, Givi Zautashvili, chairs the city council. They had a verbal confrontation at the event they were attending and it seems like being from the same party did not prevent them from escalating it into a full-on brawl involving other people as well. Zautashvili even used some sort of blunt object to hit Geladze in the face.

Both were arrested on Tuesday, the 11th, on charges of violence.

On Tuesday, the 11th, independent media outlet OC Media published an article examining how Georgian authorities and pro-government figures are weaponizing mental health stigma against protesters and critics. The piece draws parallels to Soviet-era practices of labeling dissidents as mentally ill, arguing that this rhetoric is resurfacing in today’s political climate. Through recent examples, it shows how state-aligned media portray activists as unstable or in need of psychiatric help, using this to discredit opposition voices and frame dissent as a psychological problem rather than a legitimate political stance.

Read the full article in English with the link in the Show Notes.

On Wednesday, the 12th, the Penitentiary Department decided to transfer Misha Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia, back to prison. For over three years, Saakashvili was held in the Viva Medi clinic. He was transferred there from prison in twenty twenty-two due to health conditions.

Back then, he said that he was being poisoned in prison and had lost a significant amount of weight. However, many people were unhappy about the preferential treatment he was receiving. He was even allowed to participate in video calls with TV channels.

Some political experts said that by allowing him a certain degree of participation in political life, the Kotsebi were using Misha as a boogeyman to consolidate their voter base.

At this year’s Tbilisi Book Days, the largest annual book fair in Georgia, ten publishing houses, including two biggest ones, Bakur Sulakauri Publishing and Palitra L, joined the campaign The Light Must Not Go Out to support independent media in Georgia. The fair will take place from Friday the 14th to Sunday the 16th, and part of the book sales will be donated to twenty-two independent media organizations that struggle to keep afloat due to the Kotsebi’s tightening grip on financing sources.

On Wednesday, the 12th, pro-European activists created a 280-meter or 920-feet geoglyph in Anaklia, western Georgia. The giant text, which can only be seen from the air, says Megobari Act. This is an act initiated by anti-Kotsebi US congressman Joe Wilson, which aims to sanction Georgian government officials for democratic backsliding and alignment with Russia, Iran and China. Despite passing the House of Representatives, it faced opposition in the Senate, leaving its future uncertain.

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

And now....listen carefully listeners....we mentioned this last week...Rorshok needs to pull in some revenue and if you are hearing this you like what we are doing. So....just in time for the holidays....we are selling t-shirts. Very cool ones. However, there's a problem. The normal way to sell t-shirts is digital ads, which is code for handing money to oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg. The Rorshok you know and love will not do that. So we will sell via personal collections, where real people like you who like the shirts, can set up personal collections.....and.....whoever sells the most, will get a free trip to Lisbon in early April. So help us out, be cool, and check the show notes.

Nakhvamdis!