The repression in Georgia has crossed a new level, Tuesday, June 24, with the imprisonment, in forty-eight hours, of four figures of the opposition. All had refused to cooperate with a controversial parliamentary inquiry commission, created by the ruling party, a Georgian dream, to investigate the opposition. Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, leaders of the Lelo party, were sentenced to eight months in prison, while Zurab Japaridze, founder of the Girchi party, and Giorgi Vachadze, leader of the Strategy Agmashenebeli training, were inflicted a sentence of seven months' imprisonment. All four were also prohibited from exercising public functions for two years.
This is the first wave of convictions related to this commission of inquiry, largely perceived as a tool to repress dissent. It was created in February after the repeated georgian dream promises to punish the former party in power, the UNI National Movement (MNU), led by ex-president Mikheïl Saakachvili, in prison since 2021. The power has repeatedly sworn to punish the MNU, which he notably accuses of having provoked the war of August 2008 with Russia.
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Source: Lemonde