TBILISI, August 19 – Georgia’s jailed former prime minister Irakli Garibashvili claims an anti-corruption crackdown was designed to put him behind bars and destroy him politically.
The confrontation began on Monday, with Garibashvili issuing a statement from prison saying he held Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and the government fully responsible for the safety of himself and his family. He also announced that a longer statement would follow.
According to Rezonansi, Garibashvili alleged in that first statement that, on Ivanishvili’s instructions, he had been offered a deal under which he would admit another corruption offense unknown to him and, in return, his existing five-year prison sentence would not be increased.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze dismissed the suggestion that Garibashvili or his family faced danger, saying he could not imagine even a theoretical reason why they would be at risk. Georgian Dream MP Irakli Kadagishvili likewise said nobody was threatening the family.
Then, Tuesday evening, Garibashvili published a second letter, in which he claimed that the anti-corruption crackdown launched last year had been aimed from the start at imprisoning him and eliminating him politically. He said he had declined to fight his case legally because he did not want to damage the state or his former political team.
Garibashvili said that in July, he received a letter sent by Mamuka Mdinaradze, now Georgia’s regional development minister. According to the former prime minister, he responded that he had no intention of returning to politics, but was told there remained a 1% risk that he might do so. He claimed he was therefore required to accept an additional corruption charge as a safeguard against a political comeback.
Garibashvili called that demand a “red line” and said he was now being forced to “start a fight”.
Mdinaradze’s press office rejected the account Tuesday night as a “complete absurdity”.
The dispute continued Wednesday, when Georgian Dream MP Archil Gorduladze said Garibashvili had already admitted a corruption offense earlier this year and was serving punishment on that basis. He argued that the former prime minister’s claim that the authorities feared his return to politics made no sense.
Analyst Vakhtang Dzabiradze told Rezonansi he sees the letters primarily as an attempt by Garibashvili to save himself, while analyst Zaal Anjaparidze said the former premier could be preparing some form of political comeback and attempting to present himself as a victim of political repression.
Garibashvili served twice as Georgia’s prime minister, first from 2013 to 2015 and again from 2021 to 2024. A longtime Georgian Dream figure and close former ally of party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, he later also served as chairman of the ruling party before leaving politics.
