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Month: September 2026
⚡️ On September 21, 2026, the RIAC held a roundtable. The event was organized to mark the presentation of the RIAC report, “35 Years of Independent Development: Results and Prospects for the South Caucasus States.
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Garibashvili writes seventh letter from prison
Former Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who is serving a five-year prison sentence, has said in his latest – seventh – letter that the real purpose of his arrest was not the criminal case against him, but to neutralise him politically and prevent him from returning to politics in the future.
According to Garibashvili, the authorities initially changed the terms of a plea deal they had agreed with him. Later, when his imprisonment proved more politically damaging to the ruling team itself, they offered him a deal under which he would admit to a new corruption charge.
‘I was screwed over again’
The former prime minister says that on the day he was detained, he received a message telling him that he had to withdraw from politics. In return, he says, he was promised that he would not go to prison but would instead receive a lengthy suspended sentence and a fine.
“I was screwed over again,” Garibashvili writes.
However, he continues, on 4 January 2026 he was unexpectedly informed that the terms had changed and that he would face five years in prison. By that point, he had already pleaded guilty, been released on bail and was awaiting the formalisation of a plea agreement.
20-year relationship with Bidzina Ivanishvili
In one of the key parts of the letter, Garibashvili discusses his longstanding relationship with Bidzina Ivanishvili, founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party. He says that because of his 20-year political and personal relationship with Ivanishvili, he did not want to enter into a political confrontation with him.
“I silently walked to the political slaughterhouse and went to prison because I did not want to enter into confrontation,”the former prime minister writes.
He says that by making this decision, he sacrificed himself to protect the team and the country.
“I made my sacrifice and also spared the team and the country. In return, I was screwed over for a third time,”Garibashvili says.
‘Authorities suffered more from my arrest than I did’
Garibashvili says that in February he communicated with the authorities through an intermediary. Their main message, he says, was that the ruling team had suffered more from his arrest than Garibashvili himself.
He says this left him with the impression that the authorities were preparing a new provocation because his detention and the campaign against him had failed to produce the result they had expected.
“They failed to discredit me sufficiently in the eyes of the public; they failed to achieve the effect they had expected from my arrest and the accompanying propaganda,” the former prime minister writes.
‘My reputation was not significantly damaged’
Garibashvili says there was no further communication with him until July, when the authorities made a new proposal.
According to Garibashvili, this time the authorities acknowledged that his arrest had damaged the ruling team itself, while the former prime minister’s reputation had not suffered significantly.
Garibashvili writes that public sympathy for him had grown, particularly among some Georgian Dream voters.
He says this was also because other people convicted of offences against the authorities had been released with suspended sentences, making his five-year prison term difficult for the public to understand.
Admitting to new corruption charge
According to the former prime minister, it was after this that the authorities developed a new fear that he would return to politics after his release from prison. Garibashvili says he was asked to admit to a new corruption charge.
He says the aim was twofold: to destroy his reputation once and for all and further prevent any possibility of his return to politics:
“Because of this, they demanded that I admit to a new, dirty corruption charge so that, on the one hand, my name would be completely destroyed and, on the other, they could further guard against the risk of my return to politics.”
‘My imprisonment was political from start to finish’
Garibashvili gives a clear assessment of his own case:
“Based on all this, my imprisonment was political from start to finish, from the very first day, and everything that has been done against me is politically motivated and has nothing to do with a legal process.”
The former prime minister says he believes he is in prison because of “absurd suspicions, fears and envy”.
He describes it as an injustice committed not only against him but also against his family.
Response to state propaganda
The second part of the letter contains direct and strongly worded accusations and criticism of the authorities.
Garibashvili says that “false and dirty propaganda” against him has continued over the past two weeks.
The former prime minister describes statements by government representatives as “hypocritical” and “false”.
“As I see it, you have got rather carried away and really settled into your role. Don’t be hypocrites! First take the log out of your own eye, and then talk about corruption,” Garibashvili writes.
He says the public is well aware that the campaign being waged by the authorities is a “farce”.
‘You have made state institutions a laughing stock’
Garibashvili also accuses the authorities of damaging state institutions. He says their actions both at home and abroad have made state institutions “a laughing stock”.
“You have given enemies at home and abroad grounds to talk,” he writes.
He says the ruling team’s policies have plunged the country into “continuous chaos and an endless crisis”.
Garibashvili also says the authorities’ own voters have been left confused by their policies, while a sense of hopelessness, instability and uncertainty about the future has taken hold in society.
Parallel with Saakashvili era
The sharpest part of the letter is Garibashvili’s comparison of the authorities’ actions with the rule of Mikheil Saakashvili.
“You are already following Saakashvili’s path and bringing back the methods of rule used by the United National Movement,” Garibashvili writes.
The former prime minister argues that the authorities’ current policies are ultimately harming both Georgian Dream itself and the country.
“You have caused enormous, irreparable damage to your own state, your government and the ruling party itself,” he says.
The letter ends with a warning:
“You are doing evil. Be careful!”
The case against Garibashvili
Garibashvili was first charged with corruption in October 2025. Investigators accused him of large-scale money laundering.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Garibashvili provided false information in his asset declarations in an attempt to make illegally obtained income appear legitimate.
In January 2026, Garibashvili pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. The court sentenced him to five years in prison.
In a second case, the former Georgian prime minister is accused of accepting a particularly large bribe. Prosecutors allege that he received 750,000 lari (approximately $289,000) from a scheme involving classified procurement by the Defence Ministry.
The new case followed statements by Garibashvili in which he accused the authorities of pressuring him and demanding that he admit to a new charge.
The case concerns the procurement of medical equipment and supplies for the Defence Ministry. According to prosecutors, the ministry carried out three classified procurements from late 2022. At the time, Juansher Burchuladze was defence minister and Irakli Garibashvili was prime minister. Prosecutors, however, plan to reach a plea agreement with Burchuladze, saying the decision was made in view of the extent of his co-operation with the investigation.
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