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Businessman Giorgi Chikvaidze Declares Hunger Strike Amid Legal Battle
Businessman Giorgi Chikvaidze has announced the start of a hunger strike in protest against what he describes as systemic oppression. His brother, Dimitri Chikvaidze, shared Giorgi's statement on social media, in which he expressed his defiance against the authorities and vowed to stand by his principles, even at the cost of his life.
"I will not tolerate oppression by this system! From today, I am going on a full hunger strike. This time too, I will stand out in my principles, even if it costs me my life, I will do this for the love of my country. The responsibility for what happened will fall on the Russian regime, Russian agent Bidzina Ivanishvili, and the corrupt Giorgi Gabitashvili. I would also like to appeal to our family's relatives and acquaintances, all of whom are silent, are participants in this process. Friends, do not stop, the fight continues until victory," Chikvaidze wrote.
On March 11, Tbilisi City Court Judge ruled to replace Giorgi Chikvaidze's preventive detention with bail. The judge also upheld the bail conditions for his business partner, Irakli Papiashvili. The Prosecutor's Office had sought to have both men imprisoned while awaiting trial.
Chikvaidze and Papiashvili are facing charges under Article 182 of the Georgian Criminal Code, which pertains to the misappropriation of a large sum of money through abuse of an official position with prior group coordination. According to prosecutors, their alleged actions resulted in financial damages amounting to 1,155,019 GEL.
Legal Issues Chair Rejects MEGOBARI Act, Calls It 'Blackmail'
Archil Gorduladze, Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee in Georgia's Parliament, has accused U.S. senators of using the MEGOBARI Act as a tool of political coercion, dismissing it as irrelevant and harmful to Georgia's interests.
Speaking to journalists, Gorduladze accused the act's initiators of hostility toward Georgia, claiming that it was designed to interfere in the country's internal affairs.
"The MEGOBARI Act means nothing. Even if they call it an act of brotherhood, kinship, sisterhood, and reconciliation, such an act was initiated by people like Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen, who hate our country," Gorduladze alleged.
He further accused the act's backers of attempting to weaken Georgia's sovereignty and supporting what he called "foreign-backed spy networks."
"Against this backdrop of hatred, they initiate various acts and support the spies and agencies operating in our country, so that they can then talk about this act again as if something is happening and there are catastrophic events. This means nothing," he claimed.
