Sabotage claims and the monastery dispute
The Prosecutor General’s Office announced that journalist Domenti Dito Chubinidze faces treason charges involving "sabotage" regarding the Davit Gareji monastery complex. Chubinidze, who writes for the newspaper Asaval-Dasavali, allegedly linked the April 2026 death of Lazare Jorbenadze to a revenge-motivated murder to support claims about a secret territorial transfer. Jorgenadze claimed in an interview published weeks before his death that Kobakhidze signed a secret agreement with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to cede part of the monastery complex. The prosecution states that Chubinidze made these assertions to lend credibility to the purported transfer of territory. The agency says no agreement exists with the neighboring state regarding the determination of the border in the Davit Gareji section. These legal procedures prevent the prime minister from unilaterally transferring territory to another state. The office alleges the actions amounted to "sabotage" against the legitimate interests of the Georgian state and interfered with the government commission responsible for border delimitation. Chubinidze faces up to four years in prison if convicted, and the agency will ask the court for imprisonment as a preventive measure.
Questions about previous suicides and border maps
Former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili sent a fifth letter from prison in September questioning Jorgenadze’s death and other suicides occurring under the leadership of Kobakhidze and Mamuka Mdinaradze. In a ninth letter published on Tuesday, Gharibashvili claimed that decisions from the Mikheil Saakashvili administration and the use of incorrect maps weakened Georgia’s position in the Davit Gareji border dispute. During his own tenure as prime minister and defence minister, Gharibashvili said his government took steps to strengthen Georgia’s position in negotiations with Azerbaijan. While the prosecution says Jorgenadze died by suicide, Chubinidze claimed he did not believe that explanation. Jorgenadze did not provide specific evidence to support his allegation regarding the secret agreement. The dispute over Davit Gareji involves disagreements over border delimitation and maps, including a 2019 incident where Azerbaijan temporarily restricted access to the Udabno Monastery before restoring access to Georgian visitors. Gharibashvili’s letters suggest that questions remained unanswered regarding several suicides that occurred under the leadership of Kobakhidze and Mdinaradze. In a separate case, Georgian authorities detained opposition figure Giorgi Baramidze on treason charges involving claims that Georgian forces executed Abkhazian prisoners of war.
