The Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld the 11-year prison sentence of a businessperson Giorgi Bachiashvili, a former ally and current critic of the Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. Bachiashvili had been in custody since late May, following what he described as a forced return from exile.
By Tuesday’s decision, the appellate panel of three judges upheld the original verdict, according to which Bachiashvili was found guilty of embezzling cryptocurrency owned by Ivanishvili.
In the case, which was initiated in 2023, Georgian Dream’s founder accused him of illegally appropriating ₿8,253.13 — worth around $40 million at the time, according to the investigation — and money laundering. However, Bachiashvili denied the charges, claiming the case was politically motivated and linked to his fallout with Ivanishvili.
Bachiashvili served as the general director of the Georgian Co-Investment Fund — founded by Ivanishvili in 2013 shortly after coming to power — until 2019, when he moved to the position of chair of the fund’s advisory board.
Once close partners, their paths diverged in recent years, accompanied by investigations against the businessperson. Ivanishvili’s side attributed the conflict to Bachiashvili’s dishonesty, while Bachiashvili claimed that their partnership ended due to political and ideological disagreements.
In addition to the embezzlement charges, Bachiashvili faces two other criminal cases.
The second case, launched in 2025, had the authorities accusing Bachiashvili of failing to or improperly fulfilling his official duties as the former head of the Co-Investment Fund.
In both cases, the businessperson had been released on bail. However, in March 2025, he secretly left the country, stating that he faced the threat of imprisonment and would be ‘completely defenseless’ in prison against ‘Ivanishvili’s executioners’. The third case, concerning the illegal crossing of the border, was launched against him at that time, and shortly after his escape.
Shortly after his escape, he was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison in the cryptocurrency case, while the other two cases remain unresolved.
‘Forced return’
On 27 May, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) announced that Bachiashvili had been detained near the Georgia–Armenia border, more than two and a half months after he had announced his secret departure from the country.
According to the SSG, the agency received an anonymous tip that Bachiashvili was moving near the area border crossing with Azerbaijan and the Sadakhlo border crossing with Armenia.
After his arrest, Bachiashvili rejected the SSG’s claims, saying that on 24 May he was abducted while abroad, blindfolded, placed on a Georgian Airways flight, and forcibly brought back to Georgia. According to him, this was done on the direct orders of Ivanishvili.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze neither confirmed nor denied Bachiashvili’s account but stated that ‘even theoretically, if such an operation were to take place, it would still be within the bounds of the law’.
Nevertheless, Tbilisi Mayor and Georgian Dream’s Executive Secretary Kakha Kaladze virtually confirmed the version of Bachiashvili’s forced return on Tuesday while speaking to journalists.
‘He was brought in from a foreign country’, he said, apparently contradicting the SSG’s official version that Bachiashvili was detained while moving near the border.
However, Kaladze said it was not an ‘abduction’.
Alleged violence in prison
In mid-July, Bachiashvili said that he was brutally beaten in Tbilisi prison in his own cell by an unknown assailant.
According to him, the beating was preceded by advice from the prison director to disclose his bank account information, cryptocurrency transactions, and wallet addresses to Ivanishvili, something the businessperson refused to do.
‘There was a pool of blood in the cell, and the walls were stained with blood too. I requested a meeting with the prison chief. About 10 minutes later, the prison chief came to me and took me to the on-duty surgeon’, Bachiashvili said in a letter from prison.
Following media reports about Bachiashvili’s beating, the Special Penitentiary Service released a statement claiming that the incident was a confrontation between two inmates — Bachiashvili and another individual — during which both sustained injuries.
‘Regarding the above-mentioned incident, the relevant investigative unit of the Ministry of Justice is conducting an investigation’, the statement read.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
