President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the Commemoration Program for Foundation Week held at the Beştepe National Congress and Culture Center. Speaking at the ceremony, where 202 waqf (foundation) works were collectively inaugurated, Erdoğan emphasized the importance of foundations.
Day: May 7, 2026
The geopolitical landscape of the South Caucasus is undergoing one of its most decisive and turbulent transformations in decades. The European Political Community (EPC) summit held in Yerevan was not merely a diplomatic gathering; it stands as a clear demonstration of Armenia’s resolute attempt to break free from the Russian orbit to which it has been tethered for tenaciously long years.
Georgian prosecutors announced arresting three and identifying two more suspects already in jail on separate cases over violence against journalist Guram Rogava, politician Levan Khabeishvili, and protester Zviad Maisashvili, marking the first arrests of those allegedly involved in police abuses during the 2024-2025 protests.
At a May 7 briefing, Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvarakidze said those identified include three former and one current officers of the Interior Ministry Special Tasks Department. He said two of the accused were already in custody on separate criminal and administrative cases, while three were detained today. None of the suspects was named.
All five suspects will be charged under Article 333, Part 3(b) of Georgia’s Criminal Code, which concerns exceeding official authority with the use of violence. The suspect in the Rogava case will also be charged under Article 154, Part 2, for unlawfully obstructing a journalist’s professional activities through violence. The charges carry prison sentences of five to eight years, according to Gvarakidze.
Speaking about protester Maisashvili’s case, Gvarakidze said that on November 30, 2024, “two then-employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department, one of whom is currently an employee of the Security Police Department, physically assaulted Zviad Maisashvili, causing him to lose consciousness.”
The incident, which circulated widely on social media and television, took place near Tbilisi’s Opera and Ballet Theater during the pro-EU protests. Footage filmed live by Teona Chalidze of the opposition party Strategy Aghmashenebeli showed Maisashvili lying on the ground as officers repeatedly kicked him, including in the head and face. He was later hospitalized. The footage became one of the defining images of the crackdown on protesters, sparking public outrage.
Gvarakidze then addressed the assault on Khabeishvili, saying that on April 30, 2024, “a then-employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department, who currently serves as head of one of the divisions of the State Security Service’s Special Operations Department, together with another employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Tasks Department, physically assaulted Levan Khabeishvili.”
Khabeishvili, then-Chair of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, currently in jail, was severely beaten by police during the April 30-May 1 protests against the Foreign Agents law. He sustained multiple bruises and lacerations on his face, a severely injured eye, and a broken nose, and went through a lengthy rehabilitation process.
The Prosecutor General also addressed the case of journalist Guram Rogava, saying an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Special Task Department physically assaulted him on November 29, 2024, while he was carrying out his professional duties.
Gvarakidze said prosecutors and investigators had carried out “thousands of investigative and procedural actions” in connection with the cases, including interviews with more than 550 witnesses. He added that the investigation remains ongoing and aims to identify “persons involved in other acts of violence.”
The announcement comes two days after opposition-leaning Formula TV aired an investigation identifying the officer allegedly responsible for the violent assault on its then-journalist Rogava during the November 29, 2024, protest dispersal on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue. The channel identified the officer only by initials, I. Sh., saying he was 21 years old at the time of the attack. Rogava, as well as Formula journalist Eliso Jariashvili, who prepared the report, later said they were summoned by prosecutors for questioning.
The reported arrests come amid longstanding concerns voiced by local and international human rights watchdogs, as well as Georgia’s public defender, over Georgia’s failure to hold a single police officer accountable despite numerous documented abuses against protesters during the 2024 dispersals and while jailing dozens of demonstrators on protest-related charges.
Georgian officials, while eventually acknowledging some of the abuses, attributed the lack of prosecutions to an inability to identify the uniformed suspects.
Also Read:
- 21/04/2026 – CoE Commissioner Calls for Police Accountability, Repeal of ‘Foreign Influence’ Laws After Georgia Visit
- 11/08/2025 – SJC Seeks Criminal Accountability of MIA Officials Over Late-2024 Protest Dispersals
- 02/04/2025 – World Organisation Against Torture: GD Coordinated State Policy of Repression Against Protesters
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Sonata Coulter is visiting Tbilisi, holding meetings with Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, in a trip that comes amid the Georgian ruling party’s attempts to reset relations with Washington as uncertainty persists in bilateral ties.
Coulter, who oversees Russia, the Caucasus, and European Security and Political Affairs, arrived in Georgia following reports by Georgian officials about expecting a State Department visit in May amid hopes to “deepen” communication between the Georgian and American sides.
“Prime Minister reaffirmed the readiness of the Georgian government to reset bilateral relations, to renew the strategic partnership from a clean slate with a specific roadmap focused on tangible results,” GD government press office reported on May 7, adding: “Special emphasis was placed on the importance of connectivity and Georgia’s role in the Middle Corridor.”
GD Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, who attended the meeting alongside Kobakhidze, said that the visit “serves how to advance the cooperation between Georgia and the U.S.”
“We discussed the issues that are important in the process of resetting relations between the two countries. We spoke about future steps,” Botchorishvili said, noting that Tbilisi expects “another delegation” at the end of May to discuss “the next stages of our cooperation in greater detail.”
“Both sides recognize how important it is to continue relations based on respect and pragmatic cooperation, which is very important. It is pleasing that the same messages are voiced on part of the U.S. delegation that have been voiced by the Georgian side,” GD foreign minister added.
Relations between Tbilisi and Washington have remained strained since November 2024, when the United States under President Joe Biden suspended the strategic partnership with Georgia and sanctioned Georgian Dream founder and Honorary Chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili a month later. Washington under President Donald Trump has remained largely silent toward Tbilisi and is yet to reverse Biden-era decisions despite Georgian Dream’s claims of “shared values” and stated efforts to reset relations “from a clean slate.”
Coulter’s visit follows a series of renewed contacts and exchanges between the two countries over the past months.
In March 2026, Peter Andreoli, a representative of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, visited Georgia, holding meetings with various groups and visiting Anaklia port construction as part of his trip.
Shortly afterwards, on March 30, the U.S. State Department reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze spoke on the phone, the first such contact since the suspension of strategic partnership in 2024, to discuss “areas of mutual interest,” including “security in the Caucasus and Black Sea region.”
In April, the Trump Organization, a real-estate conglomerate founded by U.S. President Donald Trump and managed by his family, announced plans to build Trump Tower in Tbilisi with local partners.
More to follow…
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