Former Georgian defence minister sentenced to 2½ years in prison for calls to overthrow government
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Tbilisi City Court has sentenced former Georgian Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia to two years and six months in prison for publicly calling for the overthrow of Georgia’s current government, Georgia Today reported.
The verdict was delivered by Tbilisi City Court Judge Romeo Tkeshelashvili.
Akhalaia was convicted over remarks made during a court hearing on Feb. 16, 2026, in which he said that Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia party, should be overthrown. Akhalaia was not present in court when the verdict was announced.
Akhalaia, who served as Georgia’s defence minister from 2009 to 2012 under former President Mikheil Saakashvili, was arrested in December 2025.
He has also been charged over the alleged organisation of an attack on the presidential palace in Tbilisi on Oct. 4, 2025. According to investigators, he coordinated the actions of organisers of the Oct. 4 mass rally by telephone. No verdict has yet been delivered in that case.