Georgia’s illegitimate Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has appointed Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, who was sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom on December 19, as his Deputy Prime Minister.
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As of today, the Georgian Dream government will have three Vice Prime Ministers. The First Vice Prime Minister is Levan Davitashvili, the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, while the Vice Prime Minister is Irakli Chikovani, the Minister of Defense.
The United States and the United Kingdom have coordinated their decision to sanction Vakhtang Gomelauri. The governments of these states hold Gomelauri responsible for the crackdown on peaceful protesters and violence against media representatives.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on Gomelauri under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. Enacted in December 2016, the Global Magnitsky Act allows the U.S. executive branch to impose targeted sanctions on representatives of foreign governments responsible for gross human rights violations or serious corruption.
Also designated under the Magnitsky Act are Zviad Kharazishvili (Khareba), the Director of the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, and his two deputies, Mileri Lagzauri and Mirza Kezevadze. Their assets and property interests in the United States will be frozen, and they will be prohibited from entering the U.S. Additionally, financial institutions and other persons engaging in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned individuals may also be subject to U.S. sanctions.
The sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom on Vakhtang Gomelauri and four other senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia include a travel ban to the U.K. and an asset freeze.
In the past three weeks, Vakhtang Gomelauri has also been sanctioned by Ukraine, Lithuania, and Estonia. He has not commented on these decisions.
