Latest news with #Saakashvili
Civil.ge
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Civil.ge
S.Ossetia Reiterates Russia Major Mediator in Conflict Resolution
The Press office of the President of breakaway South Ossetia denied reports over a possible meeting between South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity and President Saakashvili in Tbilisi during the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush in Georgia on May 10, adding that ?Eduard Kokoity is ready to meet with George Bush only with the participation of the Russian side, since Russia is the only guarantor of peace in the conflict zone.? ?Firstly, there was no official proposal of this kind. Secondly, despite our great respect for the U.S. President, such a meeting cannot be held in Tbilisi,? the Press and Information Committee of the breakaway region reported on April 16, quoting the South Ossetian leader?s press office. This post is also available in: ქართული
Civil.ge
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Civil.ge
Georgia-Linked Activist Vahagn Chakhalyan Detained in Armenia
Vahagn Chakhalyan, a leader of Armenia's opposition Will, or Kamq, initiative and a former activist in Georgia's predominantly ethnic Armenian-populated Samtskhe-Javakheti region, has been detained in Armenia, local authorities said July 4. Armenia's Investigative Committee said Chakhalyan, along with other leaders and members of the opposition Sacred Struggle movement, was arrested on terrorism and coup-plotting charges. Georgia's jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili said on Facebook that Chakhalyan was an agent of Russian military intelligence and slammed the Georgian Dream government for its 2013 decision to release him from prison under an amnesty. 'Chakhalyan was not doing Armenian work, neither in Georgia nor in Armenia. He was a GRU-recruited agent based in Akhalkalaki. Georgian Dream also served Russian interests by releasing him from prison,' Saakashvili wrote . In Georgia, Chakhalyan was active in the early 2000s in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, where ethnic Armenians form the majority. He was part of groups that organized protests in 2005 against the withdrawal of a Russian military base from the town of Akhalkalaki and called for autonomy for the Javakheti region. In 2008, Chakhalyan was arrested on charges of illegal weapons possession. Additional charges followed, related to weapons possession, hooliganism, and acts against public order, connected to 2005 and 2006 incidents, when protesters stormed a court chamber and a local branch of Tbilisi State University in Akhalkalaki. Chakhalyan and his supporters called the charges politically motivated. He was released in 2013 under a broad amnesty by the newly elected Georgian Dream government, a move that drew criticism from Saakashvili and his United National Movement party. Saakashvili called Chakhalyan 'an enemy of the Georgian state' and accused then-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili of releasing him 'to please' Russia. That same year, Chakhalyan and Saakashvili had a heated public exchange during Saakashvili's visit to Akhalkalaki. Saakashvili accused Chakhalyan of separatism and ties to Russian intelligence, while Chakhalyan criticized his imprisonment and raised concerns about the rights of the local Armenian community. Also Read: This post is also available in: ქართული
Arab News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Georgia jails another opposition figure in crackdown on dissent
TBILISI: Georgia on Tuesday jailed prominent opposition figure Nika Gvaramia for eight months, the latest in a wave of arrests targeting politicians, activists, and journalists critical of the ruling party. The EU candidate nation has been gripped by political unrest since the disputed parliamentary elections last October, when the ruling Georgian Dream party declared victory, sparking mass protests. Demonstrators accuse the ruling party, which shelved EU membership talks, of veering toward authoritarian rule and steering the country closer to Moscow — accusations the government rejects. On Tuesday, a Tbilisi court sentenced Gvaramia — the co-leader of the key opposition Akhali party — to eight months in prison and barred him from holding public office for two years, his lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili told AFP. 'The verdict is unlawful and part of the government's attempt to crush all dissent in Georgia,' he said. Gvaramia was sentenced for refusing to cooperate with a parliamentary commission investigating alleged abuses under imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Nearly all of Georgia's opposition leaders have been jailed this month on similar charges. Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer, is currently serving a 12-and-a-half-year prison term on charges widely denounced by rights groups as politically driven. Opposition figures have rejected the commission's legitimacy, accusing the ruling Georgian Dream party of using it as a tool to suppress dissent. Amnesty International said last week that the 'disputed' commission 'has been instrumentalized to target former public officials for their principled opposition.' Ahead of last year's elections, Georgian Dream announced plans to outlaw all major opposition parties. Brussels has said Georgia's democratic backsliding derails it from its longstanding EU membership bid enshrined in the country's constitution and supported — according to opinion polls — by some 80 percent of the population. The United States and several European countries have imposed sanctions on some Georgian Dream officials.
JAMnews
27-06-2025
- Politics
- JAMnews
Georgian opposition figure arrested after testifying at Hague tribunal on 2008 war
Opposition arrests continue in Georgia Opposition figure and former chair of the parliamentary committee on defence and security (2008–2012), Givi Targamadze, has been sentenced to seven months in prison and barred from holding public office for two years for failing to appear before a parliamentary investigative commission. The commission was set up to examine the actions of the Saakashvili administration between 2003 and 2012. On 5 February 2025, the Georgian Dream-led parliament established an investigative commission to examine the activities of the United National Movement government. The body is officially titled the 'Temporary Parliamentary Investigative Commission on the Activities of the Regime and Political Figures of the 2003–2012 Period.' Georgian Dream announced the commission's formation on 9 January 2025. According to the party's parliamentary leader, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the commission will operate for six months and present its findings for discussion and approval during the first week of the September session. Givi Targamadze was a witness at The Hague tribunal in the case concerning the 2008 war. Russian President Vladimir Putin had called for his arrest as early as 2012. At Russia's request, Interpol issued a 'red notice' for Targamadze in 2013 — a call for global law enforcement agencies to locate and provisionally detain him pending extradition or similar legal action. However, Interpol later ruled that the notice violated its own statutes and removed Targamadze from the wanted list. Nevertheless, he remains wanted by Russia on charges of inciting unrest and organising terrorism. In addition, Targamadze was sentenced in absentia by Belarusian authorities to 25 years in prison for his support of the Belarusian democratic opposition. Targamadze was summoned to appear before the parliamentary investigative commission examining the actions of the Saakashvili government. According to the former MP, it is ironic that Georgian Dream and then-Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani — now head of the parliamentary commission investigating the Saakashvili government — claimed the Hague tribunal's ruling on the 2008 war as their victory, when it was Targamadze himself who provided key testimony at the tribunal. 'I was a witness in the Hague tribunal's case on the 2008 war. Based on my personal testimony, five arrest warrants were issued — for General Borisov, for then–prime minister and later interior minister of the so-called South Ossetia, Chochiev, who was Russian and personally oversaw a detention centre where many Georgian citizens were tortured, and also for the so-called ombudsman, who was part of the same system. I currently hold witness status at the Hague tribunal. I never spoke about this before — I tried to maintain a certain decorum and preserve some relationships. But now that the Georgian Dream government has strayed so far from the civilised world, there's no point in staying silent. The irony is that Tsulukiani, then Justice Minister, declared the Hague ruling a victory for herself and the Georgian Dream government — and then summoned me to her commission, where she shouted that I should be arrested,' Targamadze said. When asked whether the Georgian Dream parliamentary commission would seek to challenge the Hague tribunal's findings, Targamadze replied: 'We've seen the questioning of the former chief of general staff and the head of the peacekeeping forces — and we've seen the tone. It was a continuous attempt to blame the Georgian side. Yet both Strasbourg and The Hague conducted investigations and delivered rulings which found no fault with Georgia for any part of the war. Still, this parliamentary commission is trying to dispute that.' Asked whether he feared for his safety after publicly stating he had testified in The Hague, the former MP responded: 'I understand that this might put me in greater danger — but that doesn't matter. […] Putin once spent four minutes at a press conference talking about me. If he really wants me dead, he'll kill me eventually. I'm alive by chance — what else would be protecting me? So, it is what it is. I took this step consciously.' Реакция Запада на приговор Таргамадзе Chair of the Estonian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Marko Mihkelson, reacted to the sentencing of Givi Targamadze on social media platform X: 'Russia is carrying out a massive offensive inside Georgia, with the support of a Georgian puppet government.' Russia is carrying out a massive offensive inside Georgia, with the support of a Georgian puppet government. — Marko Mihkelson 🇪🇪🇺🇦 (@markomihkelson) June 27, 2025 On 24 June, the court found Giorgi Vashadze, leader of the Strategy Aghmashenebeli party, guilty of failing to appear before the parliamentary investigative commission examining the actions of the Saakashvili government from 2003 to 2012. He was sentenced to seven months in prison and banned from holding public office for two years. On 23 June 2025, a court controlled by Georgian Dream sentenced three opposition leaders to prison: Mamuka Khazaradze (Lelo), Badri Japaridze (Strong Georgia), and Zurab Japaridze (Coalition for Change). Nika Melia, Zurab Japaridze, and Nika Gvaramia (Coalition for Change), along with former Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili, are already serving prison sentences for failing to appear before the same parliamentary commission.
Arab News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Georgia tightens screws on opposition, jails more leaders
TBILISI: Georgia jailed two prominent opposition figures on Friday, the latest in a string of sentences that critics condemn as a crackdown on dissent that puts nearly all opposition leaders behind bars. Georgia has faced political unrest since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in October's parliamentary elections. The opposition rejected the results, triggering mass protests that escalated after the government suspended negotiations on joining the European Union. Protesters accuse the ruling party of drifting toward authoritarianism and aligning the country with Moscow — allegations the government denies. Opposition figures and rights activists are being targeted in a wave of arrests and prosecutions. On Friday, a Tbilisi court ordered Nika Melia — the co-leader of the key opposition Akhali party — to be jailed for eight months. Another prominent opposition politician, Givi Targamadze, was sentenced to seven months in prison. The two were also barred from holding public office for two years. They were convicted of failing to cooperate with a divisive parliamentary enquiry probing alleged abuses under jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili, a pro-Western reformer, is serving a 12.5-year sentence on charges widely condemned by rights groups as politically motivated. Melia has been in pre-trial detention since late May. Targamadze, a member of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), said he believed his sentence was 'a Russian order.' In 2016, he survived a bomb attack when his car exploded in central Tbilisi just days before parliamentary elections. Nearly all of Georgia's opposition leaders have been jailed this month on charges similar to those levelled at Melia and Targamadze. They have dismissed the parliamentary commission as illegitimate and accused Georgian Dream of using it to silence dissent. Ahead of last year's elections, Georgian Dream announced plans to outlaw all major opposition parties.
