In the fifth statement published as part of a series where he pledged to reveal his “truth,” jailed former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili pointed to “unanswered questions” over the suicides of “multiple” people during the “Kobakhidze-Mdinaradze rule,” and asked what was the “real cause ” of death of a conservative commentator critical of Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.
The letter, published on Facebook on September 1, refers to Dito Chubinidze and Irma Inashvili, two conservative journalists whose “actions” and “campaign” were mentioned in the letter allegedly sent to Garibashvili by ex-Georgian Dream official Mamuka Mdinaradze to pressure him into confessing to a corruption crime and staying away from politics. (Inashvili, who is also a leader of the conservative Alliance of Patriots party, has since expressed open support for Garibashvili).
According to Garibashvili, on February 12, a copy of a February 2 article from Asaval-Dasavali, a Georgian conservative newspaper known for its conspiratorial reporting, was sent to him in jail “on the instruction of” Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze. The article featured an interview by journalist Dito Chubinidze with “former rights defender” Lazare Jorbenadze and was “mainly devoted to criticism of Kobakhidze and serious allegations against him,” Garibashvili said.
The ex-PM said that, when he was handed the copy of the article, he was told of “a suspicion based on false perception” that he was behind the piece, which Garibashvili said he denied.
“The whole story probably would not have been worth telling publicly had I not accidentally learned that the respondent in the aforementioned article by Dito Chubinidze took his own life some time after the article was published,” Garibashvili said, referring to Lazare Jorbenadze. He added that Asaval-Dasavali “openly asked questions and questioned [Jorbenadze’s] suicide version.”
(In February, conservative commentators indeed raised concerns over the alleged suicide of Lazare Jorbenadze, linking his death to a series of interviews in which he accused Kobakhidze and Georgian Dream of handing over lands around the Davit Gareji area, a historic territory located in the border zone, to Azerbaijan. They cited, among others, the February 2 issue of Asaval-Dasavali.)
“The following question must be answered: what was the real reason for the death of rights defender Lazare Jorbenadze?” Garibashvili wrote, adding that he publicly asks this question “because unanswered questions remain in society surrounding the suicides of multiple people that took place during the Kobakhidze-Mdinaradze rule.”
In the statement, Garibashvili also commented on the recent announcement by Mdinaradze about resigning from his post as Regional Development Minister and quitting politics, linking his departure with his alleged involvement in the pressure against ex-PM.
“Mamuka Mdinaradze made such serious and blatant mistakes in this affair that it caused not only his removal from office but also his departure from politics,” Garibashvili said. “Removing Mdinaradze from politics cannot erase the gravest and irreversible damage inflicted on the country, people, and Georgian Dream with the involvement of both him and Irakli Kobakhidze.”
Garibashvili’s Pressure Allegations
The statement comes as part of a series of allegations Garibashvili has made in recent weeks about a group within the Georgian Dream government pressuring him to confess to a corruption-related crime as a guarantee of keeping him out of politics. Following his initial allegations, Garibashvili, who is currently serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to a serious money laundering offence, was also charged with bribery, a corruption-related offence.
While in his first statement, Garibashvili mentioned a “letter” – allegedly containing pressure – sent to him “on the instruction” of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, his later statements indicated Mdinaradze as sending the letter. Mdinaradze, who had held a number of high-level positions in the GD government over the past year, announced his resignation and departure from politics on August 27, some nine days after Garibashvili first mentioned his name.
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.
Also Read:
