The Estonian Foreign Ministry has released a list of 14 individuals subjected to visa sanctions for "using unjustified force against the Georgian people and undermining democracy." Among those banned from entering Estonia are Prosecutor General Giorgi Gabitashvili and judges of the Tbilisi City Court who presided over cases involving individuals illegally detained during the protests.
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Estonia expanded the list of visa sanctions originally adopted on December 2. The updated list, announced yesterday, includes 25 Georgian citizens, among them top political officials, law enforcement officers, and leaders of the Georgian Dream party.
On December 15, Estonia imposed sanctions on the following individuals:
- Irakli Kobakhidze - Deemed the illegitimate Prime Minister of Georgia
- Mamuka Mdinaradze - Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream and member of the illegitimate parliament
- Kakha Kaladze - Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the Georgian Dream
- Tea Tsulukiani - Member of the illegitimate parliament
- Dimitri Samkharadze - Member of the illegitimate parliament
- Grigol Liluashvili - Head of the State Security Service
- Giorgi Gabitashvili - Prosecutor General of Georgia
- Koka Katsitadze - Head of the Special Investigation Service
- Koba Chagunava - Judge of the Administrative Cases Board of the Tbilisi City Court
- Lela Mildenberger - Judge of the Administrative Cases Board of the Tbilisi City Court
- Lela Tsagareishvili - Administrative Judge of the Administrative Cases Board
- Manuchar Tsatsua - Judge of the Administrative Cases Board of the Tbilisi City Court
- Nino Enukidze - Judge of the Administrative Cases Board of the Tbilisi City Court
- Zviad Tsekvava - Judge of the Administrative Cases Board of the Tbilisi City Court
On December 2, Estonia imposed sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili, Honorary Chairman of the Georgian Dream, as well as on several high-ranking officials, including the Minister of Internal Affairs, Vakhtang Gomelauri, and Deputy Ministers of Internal Affairs Shalva Bedoidze, Ioseb Chelidze, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, and Giorgi Butkhuzi. Others sanctioned include Zviad Kharazishvili (Khareba), Director of the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, along with his deputies Mileri Lagazauri and Mirza Kezevadze; Vazha Siradze, Director of the Patrol Police Department; and Teimuraz Kupatadze, Director of the Criminal Police Department.
In coordination with Estonia, Lithuania also imposed visa sanctions on a total of 28 Georgian officials.
The illegitimate government of Georgia described the decisions by the Estonian and Lithuanian governments as “anti-Georgian” and stated it would not take “countermeasures.” According to a statement from the government administration, these countries “have the most limited sovereignty in the European Union today” and their governments “act not in the interests of their own people, but at the behest of a foreign administration.”
