TBILISI, July 10 – A high-profile “sabotage” trial against eight Georgian opposition figures is moving quickly through Tbilisi City Court, with prosecutors citing witness testimony and an audio recording, while the defendants call the case political persecution.
At the center of the case is the prosecution’s claim that opposition leaders tried to turn street protests into an attempt to break into parliament, while also spreading false national-security claims that, according to prosecutors, damaged Georgia’s state interests.
The case is being heard behind closed doors. Sessions are now taking place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Rezonansi reported Thursday. The defendants are former president Mikheil Saakashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, Zurab Girchi Japaridze, Elene Khoshtaria, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze.
The trial follows a complaint filed with prosecutors on January 20, 2025, by the pro-government group United Neutral Georgia. The investigation began in February 2025, and the Prosecutor General’s Office announced a new stage in the case on November 6.
Prosecutors say the defendants acted against state interests. The ruling team and law enforcement bodies argue that opposition leaders aimed to violently change the state order, cause destabilization and assist hostile activity. The defendants deny the charges and say the case is politically motivated.
At Thursday’s hearing, prosecutor Ani Khubejashvili said four prosecution witnesses were questioned, including two investigators. According to her, the investigators spoke about protest events and the actions of Giorgi Vashadze and Zurab Japaridze. She said they had urged people at a protest in Tbilisi to push past police barriers and force their way into the parliament building.
Khubejashvili also said an expert confirmed that voices in an audio recording belonged to Elene Khoshtaria and Zurab Japaridze. According to the prosecutor, the recording concerned an agreement to spread information that planes allegedly carrying Iranian drones or drone parts used Georgian airspace on the way to Russia. Prosecutors say the opposition used that allegation to push the idea that Georgia was helping Moscow in its war against Ukraine and should be sanctioned, actions that were against the state’s interests.
Zurab Japaridze told reporters that police witnesses claimed he and Vashadze used gestures and words to urge people to “push” and that “they will get tired,” but could not remember the day, time or what he was wearing. He also rejected the claim that the audio was secret surveillance, saying it came from a public recording in Dedaena Park in 2022.
Badri Japaridze said there was no factual proof for the charges and called the case “unprecedented political persecution.” Zviad Kordzadze, a lawyer for Badri Japaridze and Mamuka Khazaradze, said one witness’s main claim was that politicians “stood out by addressing people,” which he described sarcastically as the heaviest accusation heard that day.
The charges vary by defendant. Vashadze and Zurab Japaridze face charges of sabotage and aiding hostile activity for a foreign country, carrying a possible sentence of 7 to 15 years. Khoshtaria faces those charges as well as a charge related to providing material resources for sabotage. Gvaramia, Melia, Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze are charged with sabotage.
Saakashvili is charged under a separate article involving calls to violently change Georgia’s constitutional order or overthrow state power.
