Georgian police raid homes of senior former officials

TBILISI - Georgian police conducted searches on Friday at the homes of three former senior officials as authorities clamp down on figures accused of trying to overthrow the government.

In a statement, the prosecutor general said law enforcement had raided the homes of Irakli Garibashvili, a two-time former prime minister; Grigol Liluashvili, a former internal security chief; and Otar Partskhaladze, an ex-prosecutor general.

All have been close allies of Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire former prime minister and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, widely seen as the de facto leader of the South Caucasus country.

Electronic devices, documents and a large amount of cash were seized, the Interpress news agency cited the prosecutor general as saying.

The authorities have alleged that a plot to overthrow the government lies behind a series of opposition rallies that began a year ago when Georgian Dream won a parliamentary election that its critics say was fraudulent.

A total of 62 people have been arrested since a large rally two weeks ago, authorities said on Friday.

Partskhaladze, who is a dual Georgian-Russian citizen, was sanctioned by Britain last month for links to Moscow.

Garibashvili, who last served as prime minister from 2021 to 2024, largely spearheaded Tbilisi's anti-Western turn since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

In a speech in Bratislava in May 2023, Garibashvili said that the enlargement of the transatlantic NATO alliance was to blame for Russia's invasion.

Georgia, which fought a brief war with Russia in 2008, had previously been one of the most pro-Western countries to emerge from the ashes of the Soviet Union, with aspirations to join the European Union.

In the lead-up to a municipal election this month, Georgian Dream accused the EU ambassador of expressing support for an attempt to seize power. Brussels accused Tbilisi of disinformation. REUTERS