Parliamentary committee approves dismissal of four MPs

The Georgian parliament's Procedural Issues Committee approved suspension of parliamentary member status for three opposition leaders and the former speaker on Monday, bringing the process closer to formal revocation of their positions.

Leading opposition figures - Elene Khoshtaria from Droa party, Shalva Natelashvili from Labour Party and Badri Japaridze from Lelo - were the subject of the decision, along with former parliament speaker and ruling Georgian Dream party member Kakha Kuchava.

The committee’s decision will be voted on by the parliament, with support from at least 76 MPs in the 150-member body required to formally suspend the four politicians.

• United National Movement opposition ends parliamentary boycott

For Khoshtaria and Natelashvili, the termination of their MP status was approved due to their absence on all the autumn sessions of the legislative body. The parliamentary regulations allow for suspension of member status in such cases.

Labour Party leader Natelashvili began his parliamentary boycott in July last year, before his party started deliberating on re-entering the legislative body earlier this year. On her part, Khoshtaria, who had obtained her parliamentary mandate with her previous party European Georgia, said the mandate had not belonged to her, but to the party.

• Parliament to consider Badri Japaridze’s mandate following conviction

For Japaridze, the termination was connected to his conviction of fraud in a case dating back to 2008. Japaridze, a co-founder of TBC Bank and a current leader of Lelo, was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison by Tbilisi City Court on January 12, along with TBC co-founder and Lelo leader Mamuka Khazaradze. Their sentence was waived due to the statute of limitations.

As for Kuchava, he resigned from the post of parliament speaker and refused the position of MP on December 24.