Prepared by Messenger Staff
Tbilisi Court Orders Bail for Lelo Leaders Over Defiance of Parliamentary Commission
A Tbilisi City Court judge has ordered Badri Japaridze, co-leader of the opposition Lelo party, to pay 50,000 GEL in bail after he refused to appear before the Georgian Dream initiated parliamentary investigative commission. The commission is probing alleged crimes committed during the United National Movement's (UNM) time in power.
Judge Eka Barbakadze granted Japaridze 50 days to pay the bail. His Lelo colleague Mamuka Khazaradze was also ordered to pay the same amount for similarly ignoring the commission's summons. Under Georgian law, defying a parliamentary investigative commission is a criminal offense, punishable by a fine or up to one year in prison.
The commission, formed by the ruling GD party, was initially tasked with investigating alleged systemic abuses during the UNM's rule from 2003 to 2012. However, the parliament recently extended the commission's scope to cover the period from 2003 through to the present day.
On April 2, the commission summoned several more opposition figures from the Coalition for Change, including Nika Gvaramia, Nika Melia, and Zurab Japaridze. All three have refused to participate, dismissing the commission as illegitimate and continuing their boycott of the current parliament following the disputed October 26, 2024 elections.
GD has indicated that it intends to send the commission's final report to the Constitutional Court with the aim of banning the UNM and what it terms its "successor parties".
Papuashvili and Israeli Speaker Discuss Regional Security in Tashkent
At the 150th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Tashkent, Georgia's Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili met with the Speaker of the Israeli Knesset to discuss key security issues affecting their regions.
"Of course, we first of all discussed the security challenges that exist in our region," Papuashvili said after the meeting. He noted that the Assembly offers a platform to engage with representatives from 130 countries, with several bilateral meetings also scheduled.
The conversation focused heavily on the conflict in Israel and Gaza. "We talked about the situation in Israel, in Gaza. In this regard, we all support the return of the kidnapped people home as soon as possible and the conflict that exists to end soon," Papuashvili said.
He added that the Speaker of the Israeli Parliament expressed his views in light of strong support from the new U.S. administration and hopes that these issues would soon be resolved. The two also discussed broader regional topics, including the war in Ukraine and its impact on Georgia.
"Of course, we talked about the region as a whole, about the ongoing war in Ukraine. About the impact of this security environment on Georgia and how important cooperation and mutual support between Georgia and Israel are in order to regulate security issues," Papuashvili noted.
He also said they spoke about shared experiences with the new U.S. administration, which both governments believe is taking steps to "change certain harmful instruments and institutions." According to Papuashvili, Georgia and Israel share "similar experience and similar satisfaction" with the shift in U.S. foreign policy.
