Ex-PM Garibashvili’s brother-in-law: 'destruction process’ could not have begun without Ivanishvili’s approval

Aleksandre Tamazashvili, the brother-in-law of former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, on Wednesday said he believes the process of politically and personally targeting Garibashvili could not have begun without the agreement of Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Tamazashvili said he also believes Ivanishvili may have been persuaded of the necessity of the process through what he described as “dirty rumors” and speculation.

“Many people are interested and ask me whether I believe they would have started the ‘process of destroying Irakli’ without Bidzina Ivanishvili. I think such processes would not have developed without his agreement. However, I am also convinced that they managed to persuade him of the ‘necessity’ of the process through numerous dirty rumors and ‘assumptions,’” Tamazashvili wrote on social media.

He said he understood why Garibashvili had focused his criticism on Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and former Georgian Dream official Mamuka Mdinaradze rather than directly targeting Ivanishvili.

Tamazashvili recalled an incident on October 17, when, according to him, armed special forces entered the homes of family members. He said he urged Garibashvili to defend himself, but Garibashvili rejected the idea of confronting Ivanishvili.

“Irakli told me: ‘I will not go against the person who has done so much good for me and my family.’ He added that if Bidzo [Ivanishvili] believed his arrest and neutralization would be useful for something and considered it necessary, he was ready to sacrifice his own freedom,” Tamazashvili wrote.

He added Garibashvili believed that what he described as the “Kobakhidze-Mdinaradze tandem” would not remain in power for long and that their influence and positions would eventually collapse.

He further alleged that the two had sought to “completely destroy” Garibashvili and had conveyed a message purportedly in Ivanishvili’s name calling for the “complete destruction” not only of Garibashvili but of his entire family, particularly his children.

Tamazashvili said the family had made numerous attempts since early July, when the letter was allegedly sent, to establish the truth and prevent the situation from escalating, but had been unsuccessful.