Prosecutor's Office to Question Garibashvili, Opposition Figures Over Jorbenadze Death Statement
By Messenger Staff
Friday, September 4, 2026
The Prosecutor's Office says several public figures, including jailed former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, will be questioned after his statement cast doubt on the official cause of death of an ultra-conservative commentator who had accused the government of ceding land to Azerbaijan.
Garibashvili, writing on September 1, asked what the "real cause" of death was for Lazare Jorbenadze, a former rights defender who died in April in what investigators ruled a suicide. In the months before his death, Jorbenadze had accused Irakli Kobakhidze of handing land to Azerbaijan, making the claim in several interviews with the conservative, conspiracy-leaning newspaper Asaval-Dasavali.
In his statement, Garibashvili said he was shown a February copy of one of those interviews while in prison and asked whether he was behind it, an accusation he denied. He said the document was sent to him "on the instruction of" Kobakhidze and Mamuka Mdinaradze, a senior Georgian Dream official who resigned recently. Garibashvili said there remain "unanswered questions" about the deaths by suicide of "multiple" people during what he called the "Kobakhidze-Mdinaradze rule."
The Prosecutor's Office responded on September 3, saying its investigation into Jorbenadze's April 4 death has, at this stage, "conclusively established" that he took his own life. It said the Interior Ministry has carried out "a number of investigative and procedural actions," including questioning people who had contact with Jorbenadze, among them his family and spouse.
Despite those findings, the office says investigators working under its supervision will now also question Garibashvili and a group of opposition and public figures over their own public statements on the case. Those to be questioned include Ahali party leader Nika Gvaramia, United National Movement member Khatia Dekanoidze, TV personality and activist Nanuka Zhorzholiani, Lelo/Strong Georgia member Tazo Datunashvili, political commentator Gia Khukhashvili, Alliance of Patriots leader Irma Inashvili, former Asaval-Dasavali journalist Zaza Davitaia, Conservative Georgia leader Giorgi Liluashvili, former Georgian March member Ermile Nemsadze, and government-critical commentator Giorgi Gigauri.
Garibashvili's statement is part of a broader set of accusations he has leveled against former colleagues in Georgian Dream. He says the party pressured him to accept blame in a corruption case in exchange for a guarantee he would stay out of politics. He is currently serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to money laundering, and was charged with bribery in August, after he first began making these accusations.
