The Tbilisi City Court has arrested former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia in absentia on charges related to the dispersal of a rally and the construction of a border checkpoint in 2019, "Rustavi 2" TV channel reports.
The day before, the Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia announced that a criminal case was initiated against Gakharia for two incidents that occurred since 2019, when he held the position of Minister of Internal Affairs. In June 2019, in the case of the dispersal of a rally in which the security forces used rubber bullets, Gakharia is accused of intentionally causing physical injury to more than two people and abusing official powers. The second incident refers to August 2019. As a result of the construction of an additional checkpoint in the village of Chorchana without government permission, the Georgian side lost control over 100 hectares of forest land and increased the threat of armed conflict. According to reports, the court granted the prosecutor's request to arrest Gakharia, who has been in Germany since the spring of this year.
In May 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ordered the Georgian government to conduct the necessary investigative actions regarding the events that took place in Tbilisi on the night of June 21 and recommended "to assess the actions of the persons responsible for the planning and implementation of measures to disperse the protesters."
According to the investigators, Giorgi Gakharia, "disregarding the instructions and the law, ordered the employees of the Special Tasks Department simultaneously, in parallel, without any warning or the possibility to leave the area to the peaceful demonstrators, thus organizing the intentional harm to the citizens."
