Irakli Shotadze, Georgia’s Prosecutor General, has unexpectedly resigned due to “deteriorating health,” the Prosecutor’s Office announced on May 23. According to Shotadze, he made the decision to step down on the recommendation of doctors.
“The treatment will probably take several months, and I have already been out of the country for more than a week. Therefore, given my current condition, it is impossible for me to continue to perform my duties as Prosecutor General,” Shotadze said, adding that he had already informed the Georgian Parliament about his decision.
Irakli Shotadze has been the Prosecutor General of Georgia since 2020. From 2015 to 2018, Shotadze served as the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia. From 2013 to 2015, he was the First Deputy Chief Prosecutor. From 2010 to 2013, he also worked in the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Finance in several senior positions, including Head of Department. Prior to that, he held several other positions in the Prosecutor’s Office for years. He has served in public office since 2005.
Previously, in 2018, Shotadze resigned as Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor following mass demonstrations at his office over the controversial Khorava Street incident in December 2017, in which two 16-year-olds – Davit Saralidze and Levan Dadunashvili – were stabbed to death.
Shotadze is also mentioned in a journalistic investigation alleging that high-ranking clerics, with the help of government officials, secured plea bargains or early release for certain people convicted of serious crimes.
In 2018, Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling party and its current honorary chairman, held a closed-door meeting with businessmen, which was attended by Mamuka Khazaradze, Vano Chkhartishvili, and also Irakli Shotadze. According to Khazardze, Ivanishvili tried to intimidate him with criminal prosecution by having the then chief prosecutor present at the meeting.
The Prosecutor General of Georgia serves a six-year term. If the Prosecutor General’s term is terminated prematurely, the Prosecutorial Council must immediately start a one-month consultation with academic circles, civil society representatives, and legal experts, who are entitled to nominate candidates for the position.
The Prosecutorial Council will then select at least three candidates, ensuring that one third of them are of the opposite sex. The Council shall vote by secret ballot. The candidate with the most votes, as long as they receive at least two-thirds of the votes, will be declared elected by the Council. The candidate chosen by the Prosecutorial Council is then nominated to Parliament, which ultimately votes to elect a new Prosecutor General.
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