GEORGIA: Voting from Abroad Abolished? & more – 20th Nov 2025

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 20th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

Starting with the biggest news of the week. On Monday, the 17th, the Georgian Dream, or the Kotsebi, announced plans to abolish voting rights outside the country. Shalva Papuashvili, chair of the Kotsebi parliament, said that the government wants to reduce outside influence on elections and protect voters from pressure that may come from foreign political environments. He said that people who live abroad face higher risks of manipulation and that, despite this change, no one is losing their right to vote: emigrants just need to go back to Georgia once every four years to participate in elections.

During last year's parliamentary elections, over sixty voting stations were opened in more than forty countries, and the Kotsebi received less than twenty percent of the votes from the Georgian diaspora.

Last week, we reported that the Prosecutor’s Office filed two charges against Gogi Gakharia, leader of For Georgia or Sakartvelostvis and former PM and Interior Minister under the Kotsebi government.

On Friday the 14th, a court granted the prosecution’s request to place him in pre-trial detention specifically for the charge of opening a police checkpoint near the South Ossetia border without consulting relevant agencies. Authorities said the checkpoint was beyond his authority and risked escalating the conflict.

Gakharia has been in Europe for several months, holds a residence permit in Germany, and said he does not plan to return to Georgia anytime soon.

Speaking of South Ossetia, on Monday, the 17th, Shalva Papuashvili said the ruling party decided to shut down the Administration of South Ossetia, a Georgian state body that worked on issues related to the separatist region. The government created this structure in two thousand seven, during Misha Saakashvili’s presidency, to work with local groups that supported closer ties with Georgia at a time when tensions in the region were very high.

Papuashvili said this project helped strengthen separatist narratives and harmed Georgia’s interests. He also said the municipalities of Akhalgori, Kurta, Tigvi and Eredvi, whose residents left the area after the conflict, will still operate in exile and remain the only authorities that Georgia recognizes in the region.

Irakli Garibashvili, ex-prime minister and close ally of Bidzina Ivanishvili, paid his 1 million lari bail, almost 400,000 dollars, by putting up the apartment Ivanishvili gifted him years ago.

Lawyers confirmed that only this apartment was used for bail; no other property or personal items from him or his family were touched, and the apartment’s value actually exceeds the bail. The court also took his passport and barred him from leaving the country. He had thirty days to cover the bail after it was set on the 24th of October. He is charged with receiving illegal income during his period as Prime Minister and Minister of Defense.

Next Up. Jonathan Asconasi, a senior adviser at the U.S. State Department, visited Georgia this week to meet with officials to discuss how the country can support the Trump International Peace and Prosperity Route. This new transport corridor was agreed on in the summer during a peace summit in Washington and will connect Armenia and Azerbaijan.

On Tuesday, the 18th, Asconasi visited the new U.S.-funded checkpoint on the Georgia–Armenia border and then met with officials from the foreign ministry. During the meeting, Georgian officials said they were not satisfied with the current state of relations with the U.S. and wanted to restart the strategic partnership on a fresh page with a clear roadmap.

On Thursday, the 14th, The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organization that monitors abuses and supports civil society, said Georgia now faces the harshest repression in its history since the Soviet era. The number of political prisoners saw its first increase since the country gained independence in nineteen ninety-one. In the past year, the media faced over 400 cases of harassment, including over 100 cases of physical assaults.

In other news. On Monday, the 17th, the Ministry of Internal Affairs introduced new rules for electroshockers, pepper spray, and acoustic weapons. Electroshockers will be completely banned for civilians, and only police or private security can use them for official duties. Acoustic weapons will require written permission from local police to buy or import. Pepper spray will only be available to people over eighteen and will also require written permission from local police.

Pepper spray has been an especially popular self-defense weapon among pro-European protesters who are frequently harassed by and assaulted by the Titushkebi, the Kotsebi-affiliated thugs.

The EU postponed its annual human rights meeting with Georgia that was set for Friday the 21st in Brussels. Several outlets report that the EU cancelled the meeting because the Georgian side tried to include an official who is under sanctions. The identity of that person and the type of sanctions remain unclear, but the issue was serious enough to cancel the meeting.

The EU as an institution has not sanctioned any Georgian officials, but individual member states, like Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, have.

In more EU-related news. The EU’s twenty twenty-six Erasmus+ guide cuts off the Georgian government from parts of the program that provide direct funding to state bodies. Erasmus+ is the EU’s education, youth, and sports program that allows students, teachers, and researchers to study, train, and work across Europe.

The cut mainly affects the part of the program that funds structural reform projects worth between 600,000 and 1,000,000 euros. Georgian universities can no longer access this funding, though they can still participate in other parts of Erasmus+, like student and staff mobility programs. Over the past decade, more than 13,000 people from Georgia have benefited from Erasmus+ opportunities.

Meanwhile, Simon Leviev, the infamous Tinder Swindler from the Netflix documentary, was released from the Kutaisi prison (western Georgia) on Friday, the 14th, after all charges against him in Georgia were dropped. His lawyer confirmed that Germany withdrew its extradition request, and Leviev left without bail, travel restrictions, or any legal conditions.

Leviev became famous for posing as a wealthy diamond heir and targeting women through the Tinder app. He used luxury displays to convince women he was rich and then tricked them into giving him money through elaborate scams. He was arrested in Batumi, in the south-west, on the 17th of September at Germany’s request over fraud allegations and was supposed to remain in custody for up to three months pending extradition.

In cultural updates. On Monday, the 17th, researchers from Ilia State University, led by archeologist Nikoloz Tsikharidze, announced they found a Neanderthal tooth in Tsutskhvati cave in western Georgia, dated to about 50,000 years ago. Additional research showed that Neanderthals lived in caves as far back as 90,000 years ago and used fire regularly.

The site turned out to be a treasure chest for archaeologists, not just for the Neanderthal finds, but also for its layers from 6,000 years ago, and early medieval burials full of artifacts.

The expedition was partially funded by the public, with almost 9,000 Lari, over 3,000 dollars, raised to cover the cost of equipment and supplies.

Finally, on Tuesday, the 18th, Georgia’s most prestigious literary award, Saba, announced its winners. Rati Amaglobeli, the award’s founder, said that, as with last year, the ceremony was not held due to the ongoing political crisis. He said that political repression against people who see their country's future in Europe is increasing every day, and many figures in the literary world have been targeted and even imprisoned.

Funds originally meant for the ceremony will now go entirely to the shortlisted authors. Winners include Irakli Metreveli for best novel, Rezo Gethiashvili for poetry, Mamuka Dolidze for prose, Nodar Mamatsashvili for play, and Sofia Shamanidi for literary criticism.

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

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Nakhvamdis!