On 23 March, the EU mediator who was tasked to facilitate the talks between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition on the issues of repeat parliamentary elections and the release of opposition figures Christian Danielsson announced that he would travel back to Georgia by the end of the week to help the parties to come to an agreement on “two most challenging issues.” 

A press release issued after the first mediation effort failed stated that the parties came to the agreement on three of five issues which included election reform, justice reform and the distribution of power in the state legislature. According to the press release the parties could not come to an agreement on the “issues of elections and politicised justice.” 

In the meantime, two TV channels in the country accused Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Kakha Sabanadze of illegal actions against the participants of large protests in Tbilisi on the night of 20 June 2019 (Caucasus Watch reported) and of spying on the opposition. The opposition-minded TV channels Pirveli and Mtavari Arkhi published two reports which allegedly exposed Sabanadze’s interference into the events from 20 June 2019.  

Mtavari TV published an interview with former intelligence officer Ivane Gulashvili, who is now detained on charges of divulging state secrets. In the video, Gulashvili talks about secret orders he received during the demonstrations in June 2019, including organising the surveillance of political and religious leaders. According to Mtavari Arkhi, initially Gulashvili was subordinate to high-ranking security official Nikoloz Sharadze (who now is the head of the border police), before being transferred to Sabanadze's subordination. 

Gulashvili said in an interview that Kakha Sabanadze gave him many orders in June 2019, when protests swept across the country. In particular, he said he was told to damage a large screen installed in front of the parliament building that was used to broadcast opposition leaders’ speeches during the rally. He also disabled microphones and loudspeakers to interfere with the protest. And later he was instructed to remove the recordings from the security cameras around the perimeter of the parliament building. In addition, Gulashvili said that he received an order to install a GPS tracking device on the bottom of the car of one of the founders of the Mtavari TV channel Giorgi Rurua. 

Pirveli TV report featured hidden footage allegedly filmed at Sabandze’s office. The TV channel claimed that it has confirmation that it was Sabanadze who gave the order to damage the microphones and the entire sound transmission system so that opposition leaders could not lead the thousands of people who came to the rally. 

Following these two reports, the Prosecutor Office in Georgia launched an investigation on possible invasion of privacy and abuse of office by several government officials. Sabanadze announced that he would resign from his post following the accusations, in order not to interfere with a fair investigation. “This shall be a precedent for all high-ranking officials to react with a high standard of responsibility to unbiased questions arising in the public,” he said. “For years I have served the state and followed the law, methodical fulfilment of which has been, still is, and will be coming first for me,” he added.

Meanwhile, another worrying development unfolded in the country following a meeting between the US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan and Public Defender Nino Lomjaria on 22 March. The US Embassy stated  after the meeting that it was “concerned about politicized attacks on the Public Defender’s Office, which damage this important institution and undermine its effectiveness,” after Lomjaria spoke on the challenges her office faced in recent months, as well as factors hindering the full implementation of the Ombudsperson’s mandate, including barriers to monitoring semi-open prisons in Georgia.

It should be noted that Lomjaria recently became subject to criticism from senior lawmakers of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party after she condemned the detention of United National Movement chairman Nika Melia. Former GD lawmaker and currently Culture Minister Tea Tsulukiani then said she does not regard the public defender to be “a serious and competent” person. Earlier, ahead of the 2020 parliamentary elections, Georgian Dream chairman Irakli Kobakhidze referred to Lomjaria as “the opposition’s Ombudsperson.”