“This gives me the feeling that a time is coming when the authorities can blame anyone for anything,” said former Minister of Economy Giorgi Kobulia in the “Sakme” program on Palitra News and Radio Palitra, in response to a question about the initiation of criminal proceedings against Georgia’s former Prime Minister and leader of the “Gakharia for Georgia” party, Giorgi Gakharia.

Kobulia noted that, in his view, this may not be political retribution but rather a personal grudge of Bidzina Ivanishvili.

“I am quite concerned and troubled by what I heard yesterday. This is not because I worked with Gakharia and then parted ways — I am not standing up for Gakharia, nor do I wish to. What I feel is that a time is coming when the authorities can accuse anyone of anything. I am not directly involved in this case, but my impression is that a person who defended Parliament on June 20, who was celebrated as a hero, was later promoted to Prime Minister, and now allegedly faces 13 years in prison because of what happened — that seems absurd. For six years he was a hero, and now he isn’t.

Regarding the other charges, can we really believe that Gakharia personally set up checkpoints without consulting anyone? It’s hard to believe. I don’t know — the court will decide. This is not political retribution, and we’ve seen how the ratings of Gakharia and his team have fallen, so he likely does not represent a significant political threat. What this gives me the impression of is that this story is personal — possibly built on the grudge of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the head of the Georgian Dream party,” Kobulia said.

As a reminder, yesterday the Georgian Prosecutor’s Office initiated criminal proceedings against former Prime Minister and “Gakharia for Georgia” leader Giorgi Gakharia.

According to Prosecutor General Giorgi Gvaramadze, the case concerns the June 20–21, 2019 events and the so-called Chorcha episode.