Gakharia Appears Before GD Parliamentary Investigative Commission

Unlike the other opposition leaders, Giorgi Gakharia – former prime minister of Georgia under Georgian Dream from 2019 to 2021 and current leader of the opposition For Georgia party – appeared before the GD parliament’s temporary investigative commission, officially tasked with probing into alleged UNM crimes. Among other issues Gakharia was summoned to testify about the violent crackdown on protesters on June 20, 2019, which is widely known as “Gavrilov’s night,” when he served as Georgia’s Interior Minister.

Gakharia States Reason for Appearance Before Commission

Gakharia’s party, which passed the mandatory five percent threshold in the 2024 parliamentary elections, is the only opposition force that has not formally resigned its seats, although it has refused to recognize the legitimacy of the one-party legislature. His decision to appear before the commission is likely to deepen his rift with other opposition forces, many of whom have already found it difficult to trust the former GD strongman.

“Thank you for coming. It seems that you have recognized the Georgian Parliament and the credentials of our deputies,” wryly noted Tea Tsulukiani, the chairwoman of the commission, as she greeted Gakharia. “This can only be seen as positive.”

In response, Gakharia stated in his opening remarks, “I see that you are using this commission for hybrid war, for information and psychological pressure on Georgian citizens.”

He recalled Tsulukiani’s earlier remark that Georgian war hero Giorgi Antsukhelidze had died “senselessly” for a PR campaign by former President Mikheil Saakashvili. “Then I felt obliged to come here,” Gakharia said, adding, “This does not mean that I recognize this commission as legitimate. What I recognize is the fact that, unfortunately, the hybrid power of this commission is working on Georgian citizens, and I have to do everything, wherever and whenever I can, to state my different opinions.”

June 20-21, 2019 Violent Crackdown on Protesters

In nearly six hours of heated back-and-forth, Gakharia was grilled about his role as interior minister during the June 20-21 crackdown that erupted after Russian Communist Party lawmaker Sergei Gavrilov addressed the Georgian parliament in Russian from the Parliament’s speaker’s seat. The ECtHR has since found Georgia guilty of failing to properly investigate the police violence.

• 07/05/2024 – ECtHR Finds Failure of Criminal Investigation in ‘Gavrilov’s Night’ Cases, Orders State to Pay Damages

In his opening remarks, Gakharia said the commission should also summon Bidzina Ivanishvili, “those who brought and welcomed Gavrilov to Georgia,” as well as the prosecutor general and the head of the State Security Service, to give a “broader understanding” of the events. Without hearing from these figures, he warned, the commission would only be telling “half the truth.”

Under questioning, Gakharia admitted to ordering the use of tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters, but insisted that neither he nor his deputies authorized the use of rubber bullets. During the crackdown, police fired rubber bullets directly into the faces of protesters, blinding several. When asked who gave the order, Gakharia said he didn’t know – if such an order was given at all – and suggested that police may have acted independently in self-defense.

He later said that once he learned about the use of rubber bullets, he ordered their use only as a last resort when officers’ lives were in danger.

While attacking Gakharia’s handling of Gavrilov’s Night, ruling party MPs repeatedly drew contrasts with the current anti-government protests, praising the current Ministry of Internal Affairs and its chief, Vakhtang Gomelauri, for its response.

When Gakharia suggested that police may have used rubber bullets in “self-defense,” GD MP Aluda Ghudushauri shot back: “By your logic, you would have killed half of Georgia in these protests, wouldn’t you?” – inadvertently acknowledging the scale of the resistance that the ruling party often seeks to downplay.

The GD commission also pressed Gakharia on political accountability, with Tsulukiani arguing that he should have resigned immediately upon learning that protesters had been maimed. Gakharia pushed back, reiterating that those who brought Gavrilov to Georgia -including Irakli Kobakhidze- should have borne political responsibility. “You have asked no questions about how Gavrilov arrived in Georgia?” he told the GD commission. He also said that he had received telephone calls from the Parliament and was pressured to allow into the country not only Gavrilov, but other controversial figures as well. He didnot specify from whom the calls came.

Chorchana Police Checkpoint

The commission also revisited the 2019 crisis over the Georgian police checkpoint near the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelisi. In August 2019, Georgian authorities began establishing the checkpoint near the edge of the occupation line.

At the IPRM meeting, Tskhinvali representatives issued an ultimatum to Tbilisi, demanding the removal of the checkpoint or threatening retaliatory actions and the disruption of the IPRM format.

Explaining his rationale at the commission, Gakharia listed several factors, including deteriorating roads that hindered patrolling in the forested area and the appearance of new “border signs” placed by the occupation regime for building the checkpoint. He also noted that Georgian citizens had been detained in the area.

Commission member Aleksandre Tabatadze, the back-then deputy head of the State Security Service (SSSG), asked Gakharia whether the move was coordinated with the government and noted that the SSSG had been “categorically against” the creation of the checkpoint.

In response, Gakharia insisted that the decision about establishing the ckeckpoint had been coordinated with the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) and claimed that all relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Infrastructure, were involved.

“How could such a large operation be carried out without the knowledge of either the Prime Minister or the State Security Service? Of course, everyone knew everything,” he said.

He also emphasized the strategic need for the checkpoint, accusing the then-de facto leader of occupied Tskhinvali, Anatoly Bibilov, of attempting to seize a significant area of Georgian-controlled territory of Chorchana, using a “fake map from 1922.” Gakharia claimed that Bibilov’s failed re-election campaign was premised on territorial expansion.

“His election campaign was based on the idea that if [Eduard] Kokoity brought us independence, I need to expand the borders of the separatist region,” Gakharia said. “For this expansion, he was using exactly that 1922 map, which they first used to approach Chorchana,” he added.

Tsulukiani, unimpressed, scoffed at the explanation. “It’s very hard to listen to so many lies,” she said after Gakharia insisted the checkpoint helped prevent the occupation line from shifting further. She also accused Gakharia of bypassing protocol and failing to inform the SSSG ahead of building the checkpoint, noting SSSG was against the move.

Gakharia responded: “Excuse me, did we coordinate with anyone before deciding to apologize to the occupiers?” – an apparent reference to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s controversial 2024 speech in Gori, where he floated the idea of an apology to “Ossetian brothers and sisters” for 2008’s war.

Tsulukiani and Tabatadze spent several minutes claiming that the establishment of the post had backfired, prompting Tskhinvali to open additional checkpoints on the other side of the occupation line and push the occupation line forward.

Gakharia replied with sarcasm, “At the pace you’re going, soon you’ll be blaming me for starting a war.”

Gakharia’s Resignation

The final part of the hearing focused on Gakharia’s decision to step down as Prime Minister on February 18, 2021 – a move that came just days before the arrest of one of the opposition leader, Nika Melia, at the United National Movement’s central office on February 23.

Back then, he cited disagreement with the GD party colleagues over the detention of Melia, adding that the decision to detain him posed unacceptable risks.

At the commission, Gakharia called Melia a “hooligan politician” who deserved to be arrested but insisted it should have been done “at a moment and in a manner that wouldn’t later require us to amnesty and release him.”

Tsulukiani repeatedly tried to get Gakharia to admit that the “foreign power” pushed him into the opposition. She asked him which ambassadors he had met during the period between Parliament’s decision to lift Melia’s immunity and his resignation.

Since Gakharia didn’t recall the specific names of the ambassador that he met, Tsulukiani, frustrated, stopped holding back and directly asked him whether he had met with the U.S. Ambassador – a question to which Gakharia confirmed in the affirmative.

“Was there a conversation with the ambassador suggesting it would be better to abstain from this special operation and that you’d be secured in the opposition?” Tsulukiani asked.

Gakharia replied that this was a lie and added, “The U.S. Ambassador can say whatever she wants, but the Prime Minister of Georgia makes decisions based on what he believes is necessary and in line with Georgian legislation.” When pressed further he said that the only thing the Ambassador told him this was that this was an internal Georgian matter.

Gakharia recalled that while in office, he had suggested convening the GD’s Political Council to assess the situation around Melia and was in contact with the cabinet members, namely the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Service. He recalled that many government officials initially agreed to meet but then suddenly “disappeared” under pressure of the “invisible man’s hand,” [ostensibly referring to Ivanishvili, who in January 2021 announced he quit politics “for good”].

He claimed that although Ivanishvili had ostensibly left politics, he had entered the decision-making process in operation and “took over the process from beginning to end and began to manage it himself.” This, Gakharia said, prompted him to resign as Prime Minister.

Also Read:

• 01/04/2025 – Hard-Pressed, GD Brings the War Back into Focus
• 26/03/2025 – Prosecutor Probes Mamuka Khazaradze’s Refusal to Appear Before GD Parliament’s UNM Investigation Commission
• 11/03/2025 – GD Amends Rules to Let Commission Investigating UNM Request Probe at Any Stage
• 14/02/2025 – Tea Tsulukiani to Chair Parliamentary Commission Investigating UNM Government
• 07/02/3035 – GD Parliament Staffs Commission to Investigate UNM, Threatens Criminal Liability for Refusal to Cooperate
• 09/01/2025 – GD Announces Creation of Parliamentary Commission to Investigate UNM’s Alleged “Systemic Crimes”

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