Imprisoned ex-PM Gharibashvili says Ivanishvili pressured him to plead guilty and stay out of politics

Irakli Gharibashvili, Georgia’s imprisoned former prime minister, has publicly accused billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili of pressuring him to confess to a crime he insists he did not commit. On Monday, Gharibashvili and his wife, Nunuka Tamazashvili, posted a photograph of a fragment of a letter they say was sent on Ivanishvili’s instructions offering Gharibashvili what it described as two options in the face of planned corruption cases.

According to the excerpt shared by the couple, the unnamed author of the letter set out two paths: to contest the charges, or to admit to one or more cases as part of an agreed plea deal. The fragment states that the second option would involve "confessions" and the signing of witness statements and that, if Gharibashvili agreed, he would receive no more than a five-year sentence. The letter also reportedly instructed him not to return to politics after making any such statement and described potential corruption charges as an "insurance mechanism" against a political comeback.

Gharibashvili and his wife said they planned to publish the full letter on Tuesday, but it had not appeared by the time of publication. If the document is genuine, it would add a significant piece to the puzzle of Gharibashvili’s abrupt falling-out with the ruling Georgian Dream party and the wider internal disputes that have roiled Georgian politics.

The fragment quoted a line that blamed outside figures for raising doubts and damaging the subject: ‘ "Supporters’’ like Dito Chubinidze and Irma Inashvili and campaigns organised on social networks have raised very serious doubts and severely damaged us’, the letter said. Irma Inashvili is the founder and a leader of the ultraconservative Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, while Dito Chubinidze is a journalist with a background in history. Following publication of the fragment, Inashvili said she remained a friend of Gharibashvili and pledged to confront his successor, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. ‘I never give up on friends, that is, he is still my friend today, I have never abandoned any of my friends and I will not abandon Gharibashvili either. I will expose and fight Kobakhidze personally,’ she told TV Pirveli.

Inashvili has previously claimed that Ivanishvili believed Gharibashvili had leaked "financial, commercial, and political secrets" to the United States and alleged that Kobakhidze convinced Ivanishvili such information was being leaked from the State Security Service under its former chief, Grigol Liluashvili, who is also currently imprisoned. Those accusations underline the factional tensions within and around the governing coalition and the concentration of influence around Ivanishvili.

In a social media post accompanying the letter fragment, Gharibashvili wrote: ‘This letter was sent to me on the instructions of Bidzina Ivanishvili. I tried and did everything to avoid taking this step, unfortunately, they left me no other choice but to stand up to this dishonourable evil!’ He added that he would publish a longer statement and said that ‘full responsibility for mine and my family’s safety lies with Bidzina Ivanishvili and the entire government’. As of publication, the longer statement had not been released.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who succeeded Gharibashvili, declined to engage with the substance of the allegations at a press briefing, saying he knew only that "a specific verdict has been issued" and that the rest was "entirely the business of law enforcement agencies." Asked whether he had spoken to Ivanishvili after the letter was published, Kobakhidze said they had communicated but had not discussed the matter.

Gharibashvili’s claims come against a background of recent legal action. In January 2026 he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined ₾1 million ($380,000) on charges of money laundering through abuse of office. The offence carries a potential sentence of nine to 12 years, but Gharibashvili signed a plea agreement admitting the crime and thereby reduced his punishment to five years. In early August he was hospitalised; his lawyer, Mikheil Shakulashvili, later described the visit as a routine medical examination and said there was "no reason to panic."

The publication of the alleged letter raises questions about the interplay between legal prosecutions and political influence in Georgia. If authenticated, the document could illuminate claims that plea deals are being used to limit the political activity of former officials — a point with implications for rule of law and political pluralism in the country. Observers will watch for the promised full text and any investigation by law enforcement into the origin and authenticity of the letter, while political actors continue to trade accusations amid an already fraught political environment.