According to the prosecutor general, the acts Gakharia was accused of relate to the brutal suppression of anti-government protests in June 2019 and the opening of a checkpoint on the border with the separatist, Russian-backed South Ossetia in September of the same year, which the prosecutor's office said was illegal. The indictment also includes an allegation of causing injury to multiple people. The politician faces a penalty of up to 13 years in prison.
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What charges did Giorgi Gacharia face?
How many years in prison does Gakharia face?
When was Gakharia the Prime Minister of Georgia?
What did the Georgian Dream do in the face of the political crisis?
Giorgi Gakharia, who was prime minister on behalf of the currently ruling pro-Russian Georgian Dream party from September 2019 to February 2021, resigned as head of government due to a dispute over the – in his opinion, unjust – arrest of opposition leader Nika Melia. He then created his own political party, For Georgia. He is currently abroad.
Political crisis in Georgia
Georgian Dream, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced last month that it would go to court to ban the three largest opposition parties. A spokesman for the For Georgia party said that the prosecutor's office had proven that Ivanishvili was conducting a “personal political vendetta” against Gakharia, the aim of which was to exclude him from political life.
Last week, the Prosecutor General's Office announced that criminal cases had been initiated against leading opposition leaders, including: former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is in prison, and is accused of sabotage and an attempted coup.
Georgia has been in a political crisis since the 2024 parliamentary elections, the results of which were – according to the opposition – rigged in favor of the Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012. The opposition refuses to recognize the new parliament and government.
