GD President Awards Sanctioned MIA Officials with Order of Honor
Georgian Dream elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili awarded high-ranking police officials with the Order of Honor at the Orbeliani Palace on January 30, citing “special contribution to strengthening law and order.” Many of the awarded officials are currently under Western sanctions, among them such high ranking MIA officials as Director of the infamous Special Tasks Department of Ministry of Interior Zviad Kharazishvili, as well as Director of Patrol Police Department of Ministry of Interior, Vazha Siradze.
According to the press release of the GD government, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili attended the ceremony. The list of the awarded officials includes:
- First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Police Major General Shalva Bedoidze;
- Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Police Major General Ioseb Chelidze;
- Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel Giorgi Butkhuzi, and Aleksandre Darakhvelidze
- Director of Special Tasks Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel Zviad Kharazishvili;
- Director of Tbilisi Police Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel Sulkhan Tamazashvili;
- Director of Patrol Police Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel Vazha Siradze;
- Director of Central Criminal Police Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel Teimuraz Kupatadze;
- Deputy Director of Special Tasks Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Police Colonel Mileri Lagazauri and Mirza Kezevadze.
President Salome Zurabishvili commented on the ceremony on X, stating that “today the puppet president decorated the main sanctioned figures of the Interior Ministry responsible for violence and torture.”
The ceremony comes a day after the Czech Republic imposed entry bans on three Georgian Interior Ministry officials – Kezevadze, Siradze, and Kharazishvili.
Several awarded officials have been sanctioned by from other countries as well. The Baltic states, the United States, and the United Kingdom have imposed sanctions on various Interior Ministry officials, including Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri.
In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Kharazishvili and Lagazauri under the Global Magnitsky Act. OFAC expanded sanctions in December to include Gomelauri and Kezevadze, citing the Special Task Department’s “mass beatings, verbal abuse and threat of sexual violence” against protesters.
Also Read:
- 24/12/2024 – Tear Gas, Violence, and Medals: HRW Slams GD Government Response to Protests
- 19/12/2024 – Former MIA Official Reveals MIA and Special Tasks Department Methods of Protests Handling
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