Ex-Interior Minister Merabishvili to leave prison in February

Georgia’s former Interior and Prime Minister Ivane (Vano) Merabishvili is scheduled to leave prison on February 20, 2020.

He was detained in May 2013, a year after the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the United National Movement (UNM) in parlaimentary elections, and has been serving sentence for several cases, including for a brutal dispersal of an opposition rally on May 26, 2011, the murder case of Sandro Girgvliani and the physical abuse of the opposition MP Valeri Gelashvili.

 The sentence for the charges was six years and nine months in total, as the charges were merged.  

Merabishvili may face further charges for the raid in Imedi TV in 2007 and the dispersal of another rally on November 7, 2007.

 Merabishvili was one of the most influential figures of the United National Movement.

 The UNM says Merabishvili is a political prison, which was not confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights.