Georgian security services summon Ukraine volunteer fighters over ‘coup attempt’

The State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) has summoned at least six people, most of whom fought against Russia in Ukraine, for questioning over an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

According to RFE/RL, the investigation is being conducted under articles of the criminal code related to terrorism and conspiracy of rebellion to seize power.

Five of those summoned fought against Russia in Ukraine, while another is reported to be a veteran of an unnamed war.

Tornike Chikovani, a lawyer representing one of the six, said that the case was classified and the investigation details are unknown. One of those summoned, Lasha Chighladze, said he was only told that the case was initiated a year ago.

One of those questioned, Nadim Khmaladze told journalists that he was asked about his family situation and his activities in the past, ‘even in the very distant past’.

He said many of the questions focused on his time in Ukraine and if he had had any contact with ‘special forces’ there. ‘It was a general conversation, do I have any connection with someone somewhere abroad, etc.’, he said.

On Tuesday the Public Broadcaster and pro-government TV channels Imedi, PosTV, and Rustavi 2 all claimed the investigation concerned an act of terrorism planned against Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and other leaders of the party.

On Tuesday Mamuka Mdinaradze, Georgian Dream’s parliamentary leader, connected the case to the ‘Global War Party’, a supposed shadowy group of international elites seeking to involve Georgia in the war in Ukraine.

‘This is a continuation of the pseudo-liberal fascism, within the framework of which there was an attempt to kill Trump, an attempt to kill [Slovakian Prime Minister Robert] Fico, something was hinted to [Prime Minister] Irakli Kobakhidze’, he said. ‘Did all this happen by chance, in just 2–3 months? Isn’t this being done by the Global War Party?’, he asked.

Members of the ruling Georgian Dream Party have in recent months increasingly frequently claimed that a secret cabal, the Global War Party, is controlling the West and attempting to sow war globally. In public speeches, including at a government rally in April, the party’s leaders and billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili alleged that it was seeking to push Georgia to open a ‘second front’ of war against Russia. 

A ‘politically motivated’ investigation

All those summoned for questioning have insisted they do not trust the State Security Service and have demanded to be questioned in front of a magistrate judge. All of them have also denied any wrongdoing.

They have also claimed the investigation is politically motivated, and that the state was acting in Russia’s interests.

Ucha Nanuashvili, the head of the Democracy Research Institute and a former public defender of Georgia, told RFE/RL that the investigation was likely the same one in which he was also summoned last autumn.

‘It was then that the investigation talked about the participation of Georgians fighting in Ukraine in this revolutionary scenario, that they were being retrained, and then there was talk of their use during the demonstrations in Tbilisi’, he said.

Last September, the SSG claimed to be investigating an alleged conspiracy to overthrow the government by Ukraine’s deputy director of counterintelligence, the Georgian Legion, and a former bodyguard of former president Mikheil Saakashvili. 

The SSG claimed that ‘certain groups in and outside Georgia’ were conspiring to violently topple the government in October–December through public uproar generated by accusing the government of being pro-Russian. 

The SSG claimed this was part of a plan devised by Giorgi Lortkipanidze and Canvas, an apparent reference to the Belgrade-headquartered Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies, and Otpor, a group famed for their role in toppling the government of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia in 2000.

The SSG further alleged that a ‘sizable’ group of Georgian combatants in Ukraine and unidentified ‘youngsters’ were being trained ‘near the Poland–Ukraine state border’ for a ‘revolutionary scenario’.

[Read more: Georgian Security Service accuses Georgian Legion and others of plotting coup]

Despite a massive public outpouring of anger against the foreign agent law as it was passed by parliament earlier this year, protesters remained almost entirely peaceful.

According to Nanuashvili, such investigations often coincided with political events and were usually politically motivated, almost never leading to any concrete conclusion.

This is at least the eighth time since the ruling Georgian Dream came to power in 2012 that officials have claimed that a coup was being plotted against the government.

Read in Armenian on CivilNet.