Deputy interior minister resigns amid allegations of illegal surveillance
Kakhaber Sabanadze has served as Georgia’s deputy interior minister since 2017. He previously took the post of the deputy head of counter-terrorism centre of Georgia’s State Security Service.
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Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Kakhaber Sabanadze resigned earlier today amid reports from Mtavari Arkhi and TV Pirveli TV channels on illegal surveillance and hampering an opposition protest back in 2019.
The TV channels released an interview of a former employee of the State Security Service, currently imprisoned Vano Gulashvili, who says that he damaged the opposition’s projector in central Tbilisi on June 20 during the rallies and that he illegally installed cameras in the houses of different individuals according to the demands of Sabanadze and other top officials.
In a Facebook post Sabanadze has called for 'an unbiased and comprehensive' investigation into the allegations, and stated that he resigned to ensure trust in the investigation process.
I believe my decision will be an example for other officials to act in line with high responsibility standards in the case of questions towards them,” Sabanadze said.
Mtavari Arkhi says that they recorded the interview with Gulashvili back in November 2019 when Gulashvili was still free.
The channel reports that Gulashvili was arrested shortly after giving the interview for disclosing a state secret.
Gulashvili was cited as saying that he was tired of his job.
The channel said that Gulashvili accepted the interview because he disliked his job and promised to provide evidence which could confirm his allegations.
However, the channel says that Gulashvili was arrested shortly after.
Mtavari Arkhi says that they decided to release the interview after the reports of TV Pirveli on alleged release of personal videos from the State Security Service.
In the interview Gulashvili says that he was receiving demands from Sabanadze and Nikoloz Shanidze, who currently serves as the border police chief of the Interior Ministry.
Gulashvili says that in 2014 he allegedly installed surveillance cameras in the house of former deputy Defence Minister Anna Dolidze, who later created a political party.
He says that he also installed a virus on the laptop of head of Administration of All Muslims of Georgia Vagif Askerov to record his personal life.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into the case earlier today.
With 87 votes for and 2 against, the Georgian Parliament today adopted a final draft of a law that will establish a covert surveillance agency under the auspices of the State Security Service.
With 89 votes for and 20 against, the Georgian Parliament adopted a draft of a law today titled Covert Investigative Activities.
A new law coming into force today gives the Personal Data Protection Inspector of Georgia overall control of secret surveillance throughout the country.
Illegal surveillance became a subject of intense discussion in Georgia following the revelation thousands of secret video recordings were kept by the former government.
Deputy Interior Minister Vladimer Bortsvadze, who has served in the post since 2019, has resigned. Bortsvadze has left the post on the basis of a personal statement, Interpressnews agency reports.
The Georgian State Security Service has launched an investigation into the disclosure of state secrets under the classification of ‘secret,’ the body reported earlier today. The official statement of the State Security Service reads that the facts of public information dissemination about the official duties of the body’s staff and officials have become more frequent recently, noting that it ‘clearly violates the law on State Secrets.’
The ruling Georgian Dream party has plans to look into the assessments of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission on the party’s domestic surveillance bill before it overrides the “unreasonable” veto placed on it by the country’s President, GD MP Irakli Kadagishvili said on Monday.