Former Armenian defense minister briefly detained in Moscow. Kyiv Independent
Day: December 30, 2024
Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri, who is sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act, has appointed Shalva Tadumadze, Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court of Georgia and a Supreme Court judge elected for life in 2019 as his Deputy. Tadumadze has also been sanctioned by Lithuania for undermining democracy in Georgia. He will be the fifth Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, among other deputies, joining the ranks of Shalva Bedoidze, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, Giorgi Butkhuzi, and Ioseb Chelidze.
From 2019 to date, Tadumadze has held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia and was also elected as a judge of the Supreme Court for life.
In 2018-2019, he held the position of Chief Prosecutor of Georgia and of Head of the government administration. Previously, he was Bidzina Ivanishvili’s lawyer.
Tadumadze is probably best known for the controversy episode surrounding his education. Prior to his election as a judge for life, the document certifying his education came under scrutiny. Transparency International-Georgia questioned the authenticity of the document, as Tadumadze’s diploma stated that Shalva Tadumadze entered the institution in 1993, while the institution itself was founded in 1994.
On December 15 this year Lithuania imposed sanctions on Georgian individuals, including Tadumadze, for their role in undermining democracy in Georgia, particularly in connection with the suppression of peaceful protests, journalists, and opposition figures. Following this, Tadumadze demanded a meeting with Lithuania’s Ambassador to Georgia, calling for an explanation of why he was placed on the Lithuanian sanctions list. In a letter to Georgian Dream appointed Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, Tadumadze requested that the Ambassador be summoned to meet with him, stating that the decision to sanction him as a ‘Georgian politician’ was unjustified and that the reason for the meeting was that he was planning to take Lithuania to the European Court of Human Rights in order to legally restore his “fundamental rights and freedoms violated by the Lithuanian state.”
The appointment of Tadumadze comes amid mounting concerns over the Georgian Dream government’s increasing repression and usurpation of power.
Also Read:
- 20/12/2024 – U.S. State Department Statement on Sanctioning Georgian MIA Officials for Serious Human Rights Abuses against Protesters
- 19/12/2024 – U.S. Department of Treasury Sanctions Georgian MIA Officials for Brutality Against Protesters, Journalists, and Politicians
- 19/12/2024 – UK Sanctions Senior Georgian Authorities, Including Minister of Interior
- 16/12/2024 – Estonia Sanctions Kobakhidze, 14 Other Officials Over Crackdown
- 12/07/2018 – Prosecutorial Council Selects Shalva Tadumadze for Chief Prosecutor
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How the Azerbaijan Airlines Crash Could Shake Relations with Russia – The Times Of Central Asia https://t.co/y9xzWJE7ZY
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Given the rapid dissemination of information in the 2020s by electronic means, whereby authentic real-time videos…— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) December 30, 2024