In early November, the Tbilisi City Court began hearing on the merits the case against two-time former Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. The state accuses him of corruption, with proceedings held behind closed doors. At the very first hearing, the ex-official alleged he was being subjected to “moral torture.” Let us examine what he might have meant.
Recently, Irakli Garibashvili’s brother-in-law posted on Facebook, stating that the former prime minister had been allowed to see his children only twice in 11 months. Quote:
“Show some humanity and let Irakli see his children. This post is not about politics or the legal ‘web.’ One might dislike Irakli as a politician, but hardly anyone would rejoice in the fact that, as an ‘additional’ punishment, he is barred from seeing his young children,” wrote Aleksandre Tamazashvili.
The general public learned just how devoted a father Garibashvili is during a scandal in August 2023, when his eldest son left to study in the United States. Government Plane No. 1, designated for official visits by top state dignitaries, flew the Garibashvili family along with security personnel to Munich, from where they traveled first-class to the US. At the time, journalists calculated that the cost of such a flight was several times higher than the prime minister’s annual salary. Garibashvili himself claimed that his father had paid for the trip.
In October 2025, during a search of the former prime minister’s property, investigators discovered large amounts of cash, including the equivalent of roughly 6.5 million dollars and euros. Expensive jewelry and paintings were also seized. Journalists had previously paid special attention to his watch collection, which was valued at a minimum of half a million dollars.
In January 2026, Garibashvili pleaded guilty to money laundering charges and entered into a plea agreement. The court sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine of one million lari. For a time, the former prime minister remained silent.
However, starting in mid-August, Garibashvili began releasing letters from prison, effectively launching a public standoff with his former allies. He claimed that Bidzina Ivanishvili and government officials were demanding he plead guilty in a new case to permanently rule out his return to politics. According to the former prime minister, this pressure was accompanied by threats to arrest members of his family, including his 75-year-old father.
Garibashvili also accused his former team of political persecution, claiming he had been deceived: instead of the promised suspended sentence and fine, he received actual prison time. In subsequent letters, he directly criticized Georgian Dream, compared its methods to the practices of the previous administration, and urged the public to assess the record of his tenure as prime minister.
Then, on August 24, Garibashvili was served with a new indictment—this time for bribery. According to prosecutors, former Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze orchestrated an inflated-cost procurement scheme for medical equipment destined for the Ministry of Defense. Businessmen allegedly paid 1.9 million lari to facilitate the scheme. Of that sum, investigators allege, Garibashvili received 750,000 lari. If convicted, he faces between 11 and 15 years in prison.
The trial will proceed, as the former prime minister put it in his latest letter from custody, “in darkness.” The politician is demanding that light be shed on the case and that he be allowed to defend his rights publicly. Irakli Garibashvili described as discrimination the fact that other comparable cases were heard in open court, while his is being held in secret.
