In Georgia, ex-head of Saakashvili party sentenced to 2.5 years for calls against authorities

The Tbilisi City Court sentenced former chairman of the opposition party United National Movement Levan Khabeishvili to 2.5 years in prison in the case of public calls for the overthrow of the government.

Georgian TV channel TV Pirveli reports this.

The verdict was read by Judge Irakli Khuskivadze. The judge found the former head of the United National Movement, founded by ex-President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, guilty under the article Sabotage of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

Khabeishvili was detained on September 11, 2025. Initially, he was accused of promising bribes to law enforcement officers. In particular, according to the prosecution, the former party chairman offered police officers who would refuse to perform their duties and provide him with information, including secret information, $200 thousand. Later, the prosecutor's office reclassified the charge to public calls for the overthrow of the government.

In addition, on September 11, together with Khabeishvili, a member of the opposition Coalition for Change, former Prosecutor General of the country Murtaz Zodelava, was detained. He was initially charged with attempting to hide Khabeishvili's phone, which law enforcement officers were to seize as evidence. Zodelava was charged under the article Resistance, threat or violence against a person protecting public order or another representative of the authorities of the Criminal Code of Georgia, but later his case was reclassified to the article Obstruction of the administration of justice or investigation. The court sentenced him to 9 months in prison.

Zodelava is already serving a sentence in prison in the case of an attempted storming of the presidential palace in Tbilisi on October 4, 2025. In May, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced him to seven years in prison.