Georgia jails top opposition figures as authorities ramp up crackdown

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Georgia has jailed four key opposition figures within days as part of a monthslong crackdown on dissent that followed a disputed election last October in the South Caucasus country.

Nearly all leaders of Georgia’s pro-Western opposition are now behind bars, as protests continue against the ruling Georgian Dream party and its decision last year to halt Georgia’s bid to join the European Union. The demonstrators, who gather daily in the capital, Tbilisi, also say that the vote on Oct. 26 that handed Georgian Dream another term in power was not free or fair.

On Tuesday, politician Giorgi Vashadze of the Strategy Agmashenebeli party was sentenced to eight months in prison for refusing to testify in an official probe that Georgian Dream’s critics call an act of political revenge.

The day before, three other opposition figures were handed comparable sentences after refusing to cooperate with the same parliamentary inquiry investigating alleged wrongdoings by the government of ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Badri Japaridze and Manuka Khazaradze were both jailed for eight months, while Zurab Japaridze received seven months.

Opposition politicians have declined to attend the commission hearings, citing their ongoing boycott of parliament following the Oct. 26. election. Georgian Dream’s critics say the vote was rigged with Russia’s help to hand it another term in power.

They also say the probe is a ploy by the ruling party to damage the opposition, particularly Saakashvili’s United National Movement party.

Speaking to The Associated Press before he was handcuffed on Tuesday, Vashadze said the commission hearings went “against the Georgian constitution” because no opposition lawmakers are represented, and that the probe’s aim is to persecute the opposition.

“They are afraid of us because we are fighting for our country, and they see that there is big support from Georgian society… That’s why I’m under arrest now,” he said.

Other prominent government critics remain in pre-trial detention for declining to appear before the commission investigating Saakashvili. They include Nika Melia, a former chairman of Saakashvili’s United National Movement party, and Nika Gvaramia, who was a minister in Saakashvili’s government. A former defense minister, Irakli Okruashvili, is also in custody.

Melia, Gvaramia, and Zurab Japaridze were among the leaders of the opposition grouping, Coalition for Change, that finished second in the October vote, according to official results.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday denied that their arrests were politically motivated.

Meanwhile, anti-government protests continue daily in central Tbilisi. While numbers are far lower than last autumn, the demonstrations are big enough to block traffic around the parliament building.

Many protesters have worn masks since the government imposed harsh penalties for blocking streets.

Elene Khoshtaria, another prominent opposition politician, on Tuesday slammed Georgian Dream for using “violence, repressions, political persecution” to snuff out dissent and Georgia’s “European future.”

She praised protesters for their persistence and called on Western countries to give stronger backing to Georgian Dream’s critics.

“We are all in solidarity with all our friends and political prisoners,” she said, referring to those jailed or detained in recent weeks. “As long as Georgia fights, I think our international partners should act in a very decisive and bold way.”