Jailed former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili accused the Georgian Dream government of setting a trap for him, deceiving him, and terrorizing his family, saying he bore the “horrific pain and tragedy” privately out of love, respect, and loyalty to Bidzina Ivanishvili, in a statement released as part of a series of letters in which the ex-official has promised to reveal the “truth.”
He also said his imprisonment was based on “false perceptions, imaginings, envy, fears, and suspicions created by a particular group within the team.”
The statement, published on Facebook on August 20, follows his two earlier posts where the ex-PM alleged attempts at his “political destruction” as well as pressure to take the blame for a corruption offence to keep him out of politics.
In his first statement published on August 17, Garibashvili, a former close aide to Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, shared a copy of a letter he said had been sent to him “on Ivanishvili’s instruction.” The letter described an offer of Garibashvili taking the blame in an anticipated corruption case, although the billionaire’s alleged role in making the offer was not made explicitly clear in the post or the attached letter.
In a second statement published the following day, Garibashvili no longer directly mentioned Ivanishvili, saying instead that the letter had been sent to him by Mamuka Mdinaradze, the current Regional Development Minister, who had served as State Security Service chief and later as State Minister for Coordination of Law Enforcement Bodies in recent months. He said the confession to a corruption charge was meant to mitigate the risk of him returning to politics, and announced his intention to fight.
August 20 Statement
In the latest August 20 statement, addressed to the Georgian Dream government, Garibashvili responds to “comments by the government representatives, false and slanderous statements of their experts,” as well as “brazen propaganda” on TV and social media.
“Now I am addressing the government: from the very beginning, you set me up with a dirty provocation, laid an unmanly trap for me. I took you at your word, followed you in good faith and with blind trust, but you deceived me and then screwed me over,” Garibashvili writes. “… You hung me out to dry, barged into my home like I was some robber or a criminal, terrorized my family — my wife and children, barged into the homes of my mother and father, my in-laws.”
Garibashvili then says that he “kept all this terrible pain and tragedy to [himself]” due to his “twenty-year relationship” with Ivanishvili, as well as “immense love, respect, boundless gratitude, and absolute loyalty” to the ruling party founder.
“Also, I quietly shouldered this entire burden out of the interests of my political family, team, and our country and walked on my own feet to this ruthless sacrificial altar you prepared for me,” Garibashvili writes. “As a result, you sent me to prison for five years, based on false perceptions, imaginings, envy, fears, and suspicions created by a particular group within the team.”
According to Garibashvili, the authorities he addresses in the letter have not left him in peace even in prison, asking him to confess to corruption charges to mitigate the “1-percent risk” of his returning to politics. He says this has been accompanied by “blackmail and pressure,” including a “second hint” that his 75-year-old father could be arrested.
“You touched such deep layers of my heart and soul that, quite literally, you ‘blew me up’ and left me no other choice,” the ex-PM writes. “You are struggling in vain and helplessly to cast me as a traitor to the country, the team, and Bidzina Ivanishvili.”
Garibashvili’s Trial and Conviction
Garibashvili currently serves a five-year sentence following a plea deal in a money laundering case, which came amid a series of prosecutions and a declared anti-corruption drive by Georgian Dream targeting former officials and business associates linked to the ruling party. One of Ivanishvili’s closest aides prior to coming to politics, he served as Georgian prime minister twice, from 2013 to 2015 and again from 2021 to 2024.
Garibashvili announced quitting the ruling party and politics in April 2025, about a year after Irakli Kobakhidze succeeded him as prime minister. He was charged with money laundering in October 2025, shortly after officials said to have seized over USD 7 million in cash and valuables after searching dozens of homes belonging to former officials, including Garibashvili. Officials said at the time Garibashvili “admitted to receiving illicit income over the years,” including while serving as prime minister. Garibashvili’s defense had argued at the time that the reported confession did not amount to “admitting to corruption.”
Commenting on Garibashvili’s August 17 statement, GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters on August 18 that he “does not know” what it is about, calling it “very problematic,” yet “not for us, but for him.” Kobakhidze also said it was “difficult to imagine” Garibashvili’s political plans since he “had admitted to a corruption crime.”
Also Read:
