TBILISI, October 2 – A former deputy head of Georgia’s State Security Service has been released on 500,000 lari bail after spending more than four months in custody.
Levan Akhobadze, a former deputy head of the domestic intelligence agency, is charged with bribery in a wider corruption investigation involving his former boss, ex-security chief Grigol Liluashvili.
Akhobadze was released from a Tbilisi courtroom on Thursday after prosecutors agreed to a defense request to replace detention with bail. He was also barred from leaving Georgia until the case is concluded.
The former deputy intel chief was arrested on May 22, several months after Liluashvili himself was detained on multiple bribery charges.
According to investigators, Akhobadze learned while serving as deputy security chief in April 2024 that customs officers at the Lars border crossing had confiscated 40 million Russian rubles, then worth about 1.16 million lari, from a private businessman.
Prosecutors say Akhobadze, working through intermediaries, offered to help recover the money and demanded 500,000 lari in return. Authorities said the amount was later reduced to 250,000 lari following the involvement of Liluashvili, who headed the State Security Service at the time.
Akhobadze was placed in pre-trial detention the following day. Prosecutors said their evidence included witness statements, customs records, phone data and other documents. His lawyers disputed that the evidence proved he had taken a bribe.
The Akhobadze case developed against the background of a much larger corruption investigation into Liluashvili, who was arrested in December 2025. Prosecutors have accused the former security chief of taking bribes in several separate episodes involving energy projects, gasification contracts, fraudulent call centers and Tbilisi kindergarten procurement. Liluashvili has remained in custody while his trial proceeds.
In July, one of Liluashvili’s relatives, Andria Liluashvili, was sentenced to 12 years in prison over the call centers case.
Akhobadze’s own proceedings have meanwhile continued behind closed doors since late August.
Explaining Thursday’s release, prosecutor Ana Lekiashvili said the risk that Akhobadze could influence witnesses had decreased. She also said he had confirmed certain circumstances in the case and that the defense had accepted most of the evidence as undisputed.
His lawyer Davit Simonia stressed, however, that Akhobadze had not testified against anyone and continued to reject the charge against him.
Akhobadze faces 11 to 15 years in prison if convicted of accepting an especially large bribe.
