The European Parliament on Wednesday called for tough sanctions against top Georgian officials over the country’s democratic backsliding, including targeted measures against billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s informal ruler.
Lawmakers urged the EU to consider removing Georgia from the SWIFT banking system and imposing immediate sanctions on Ivanishvili, his family members, and associated companies.
“We owe it to the brave Georgians fighting for a free and pro-European future,” said Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė.
“Almost all opposition leaders are now in jail. Independent media are close to collapse. Civil society groups face threats and strict legal limits. Georgia is an example of how a country can be taken over from the inside, without firing a shot,” he said.
The vote comes amid rising political infighting and a crackdown on perceived dissent in Georgia, with top officials resigning or facing arrest — and one apparent suicide attempt drawing public alarm.
On Monday, Tornike Rizhvadze, former head of the Adjara region, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the chest. Prosecutors said he shot himself with a pistol taken from a friend’s summer house. That friend, state official Aleksi Akhvlediani, was charged with negligence for failing to secure the weapon, dismissed from his post, and released on bail.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze made controversial remarks blaming independent media for the pressure on politicians, but later backtracked. “No, I didn’t say that. Of course I didn’t say that. I just gave one example,” he told reporters.
Shortly after the incident, a letter surfaced in pro-government media claiming to be Rizhvadze’s suicide note, alleging he had been “unfairly accused of corruption and helping drug deals.”
The drama unfolded against a broader backdrop of political turmoil. In June, former Deputy Economy Minister Romeo Mikautadze was arrested for allegedly acquiring illicit wealth, including property in Spain, in a case uncovered by OCCRP’s Georgian partner.
Since April, several senior officials—including the heads of the State Security Service and Interior Ministry, Vakhtang Gomelauri and Zviad Kharazishvili—have resigned in what local media describe as a power struggle within the ruling Georgian Dream party. Some outlets have linked the resignations to financial demands from Ivanishvili, though neither he nor the party responded to OCCRP’s requests for comment.
“It is actively reported in the media. The reaction to these issues is happening informally,” Guram Imnadze, an independent Tbilisi based lawyer told OCCRP.
According to a lawyer, arrests of state officials also are not about justice, rather than “keeping control”.
“Elite corruption has reached a critical point — and the government’s response is guided by political expediency, not the public interest,” Imnadze said.
Tina Khidasheli, head of the Georgian NGO Civic Idea, called the Rizhvadze case a turning point. “It’s fundamentally different from anything we’ve seen under Georgian Dream. We tangibly saw its sort of gangster nature,” she told OCCRP.
Business leaders have also come under pressure. On July 6, police detained Giorgi Ramishvili—one of Georgia’s most prominent businessmen—at Tbilisi International Airport for attempting to travel with a legal firearm he lacked a carry permit for. Released on bail, Ramishvili called the incident a mistake: “I deeply regret it... but mistakes like this shouldn’t be punished with seven years in prison.”
Days earlier, the son of another prominent businessman, Zurab Chkhaidze—a supporter of the ruling party—was arrested after police found a weapon in his car.
In May, businessman Giorgi Chikvaidze and a partner were sentenced to eight and nine years in prison for embezzlement. Days before his arrest, Chikvaidze posted on social media alleging he was under surveillance by state agents.
“These arrests are not about helping the public,” said Imnadze. “They are about political power. If there’s a conflict inside the government, some people become targets, not because they broke the law, but because they lost protection.”