Georgia’s incumbent Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance has been appointed as the new Interior Minister.
The First Deputy Corrections Minister has been promoted to Corrections Minister.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has made two new changes in Cabinet; today he introduced promoted Giorgi Mgebrishvili, 45, from his current role as Georgia’s Corrections Minister to his new position as Minister of Internal Affairs.
Mgebrishvili has been the Corrections Minister since July 2014.
Meanwhile Kakha Kakhishvili, 42, who was the First Deputy Corrections Minister since October 2014, was promoted to the role of Corrections Minister.
The post of Interior Minister fell vacant after Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri was appointed to the role of head of the newly established State Security Service, as part of the Interior Ministry reform.
Meanwhile Mgebrishvili, the new Interior Minister, has a thorough background in law.
When he was introduced to the role, PM Garibashvili said Mgebrishvili was a "very successful” Corrections Minister, a "decent person” and "good manager”.
"I am confident that he will continue the reform process of the Interior Ministry and he will tackle this task with success,” the PM said.
Mgebrishvili was educated in Tbilisi and graduated from Tbilisi State University’s Faculty of Law in 1996.
One year later he began an internship at the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs and as time progressed, he moved up the ranks and held many positions, including investigator (from 1998 to 2004) and deputy head of the Department of the State Security Agency in 2013.
During his career Mgebrishvili engaged in another field and worked in the Revenue Service within the Finance Ministry until December 2013.
From January 2013 until July 2014 he was the Governor of the Kvemo Kartli region.
Mgebrishvili speaks English and Russian and is married with two children.
Similarly Kakhishvili, the new Corrections Minister, graduated from Tbilisi State University Faculty of Law. He also studied political sciences.
He is a member of the State Constitution Commission and a member of the inter-agency Coordination Board of Criminal Law System.
He speaks English and Russian and is married with two children.