Georgian State Security Service Detains Two Leaders of the United National Movement

One of the leaders of the United National Movement, Levan Khabeishvili, has been detained on charges of bribery, the reason being a reward he promised to security forces who refused to carry out government orders. The chairman of the party's political council, Murtaz Zodelava, was detained for resisting security forces. Members of the opposition party began to gather near the building of the State Security Service.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote that in July, during a live interview, one of the leaders of the United National Movement, Levan Khabeishvili, was attacked.

The State Security Service (SSG) of Georgia detained one of the leaders of the opposition party "United National Movement" Levan Khabeishvili. Khabeishvili is accused of bribery. The State Security Service qualified his public promises of rewards to security officials who refuse to follow orders as "bribery," Novosti Georgia reports.

Levan Khabeishvili was the main organizer of the protest action planned in Tbilisi in parallel with the local elections on October 4. He positioned the rally as the beginning of a "peaceful revolution" and "the day of Georgia's liberation." The UNM and several of its partner parties are boycotting the vote, calling it an attempt to legitimize the power of the Georgian Dream, the publication says.

The third president of Georgia and founder of the UNM, Mikheil Saakashvili, said in July that the State Security Service was allegedly preparing a "big provocation" and the arrest of Khabeishvili on charges of attempting an armed coup d'etat.

The chairman of the party's political council, Murtaz Zodelava, was also detained. According to the security forces, he resisted Khabeishvili's arrest when Zodelava tried to hide the mobile phone that Khabeishvili managed to hand over to him at the time of his arrest. "He physically resisted the employees of the Anti-Corruption Agency and used violence against one of them," the agency said. Zodelava faces two to five years in prison under Part 2 of Article 353 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

Levan Khabeishvili was arrested under Part 2 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code of Georgia - a bribe for committing illegal acts, which provides for imprisonment for a term of 4 to 7 years, Publika reports.

The arrest of Levan Khabeishvili, chairman of the political council of the United National Movement, is only proof of the regime's weakness, - Tina Bokuchava, chairwoman of the National Movement, wrote on Facebook*.

"We are heading to the SGB building. "The arrest of the chairman of the political council of the United National Movement Levan Khabeishvili is only proof of the weakness of the regime," Interpressnews quoted her as saying.

Ana Tsitlidze, a member of the opposition UNM party, published a post in which she said that she was doubling Khabeishvili's offer to the security forces.

"We are doubling Khabeishvili's offer. We will pay 400 thousand dollars to those security forces who do not obey the regime and go over to the side of the people. I am responsible," Tbilisi Life translated her words.

Members of the opposition party began to gather near the building of the State Security Service, the publication said.

The Caucasian Knot collected materials about the parliamentary elections and the protests that followed them on the page "Elections in Georgia-2024".