Overview

• Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze of Lelo for Georgia were each sentenced to eight months, while Coalition for Change’s Zurab Japaridze received seven months for refusing to testify before a parliamentary commission.
• All three politicians were banned from holding public office for two years under the same rulings that sparked protests in Tbilisi.
• Opposition figures denounce the commission investigating alleged abuses under ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili as illegitimate and a tool to silence dissent.
• The convictions follow last October’s disputed elections and the government’s suspension of EU membership talks, which ignited mass demonstrations over alleged vote-rigging.
• Western governments have condemned the sentences and imposed sanctions on Georgian officials as fears rise of a Kremlin-style authoritarian shift.