All sections

Rubrics

Editorial desks and subject areas

All NewsEvery published article, newest firstAnalysisOriginal analytical contentEconomyBusiness and investmentPoliticsPower and governanceEnergyResources and climateSecuritySecurity and conflictsChina FactorChina in the regionTurkish FactorTurkey's role in the regionOpinionPositions and commentary

Countries

Country hubs across the Eurasian space

KazakhstanCentral AsiaUzbekistanCentral AsiaKyrgyzstanCentral AsiaTajikistanCentral AsiaTurkmenistanCentral AsiaMongoliaInner AsiaAfghanistanInner AsiaPakistanSouth AsiaTurkeyRegional powerChinaNeighboring powerRussiaNeighboring powerCaucasusGeorgia · Armenia · Azerbaijan

Formats

Ways to read the archive

Wire BriefsFast updates from the wire deskAnalysisContext and interpretationOpinionCommentary and argumentCountry ReportsLong-form country intelligenceDaily DigestWeekday briefing by email

Info

About, contact, and reader utilities

About Central Asia WireSearch ArchiveSubscribeContact EditorialRSS Feed
Central Asia Wire
Independent Central Asia Monitor
Breaking
Washington's new tariff law counts Russian gas by volume, and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are closing in on its top fiveThe WMO writes the region's water year down: reservoirs below normal from Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan, the Aral basin's rivers in decline, glaciers with one of their 3 worst years on recordKyrgyzstan widens its fuel export ban to petroleum gases; the Chinese-owned Junda refinery gets a 4,800-tonne exceptionOyu Tolgoi's revenue runs $1.9 billion ahead of plan in 8 months; the copper dividend is still dated 2027
Politics

A Tbilisi court gives Georgia's former security chief 13 years for bribes as parliament seats the fourth head of his old service

Grigol Liluashvili, who ran the State Security Service from October 2019 to April 2025, was convicted of taking bribes in an especially large amount as a group on all four episodes of the indictment, under article 338 of the Criminal Code, which carries 11 to 15 years. He denies the charges.

By CAW Staff17 September 2026
A Tbilisi court gives Georgia's former security chief 13 years for bribes as parliament seats the fourth head of his old service

Judge Nino Tarashvili of the Tbilisi City Court delivered the sentence on Wednesday, Interpressnews reported at 19:12. The conviction is under subparagraph g of part 2 and subparagraph e of part 3 of article 338, as Interpressnews cites them, receiving a bribe in an especially large amount by a group acting by prior agreement, which the code punishes with 11 to 15 years; Liluashvili got 2 years less than the maximum, Novosti Gruzii noted.

The four episodes, as the two outlets report the verdict: $1 million in October 2022 from a Turkish investor, Cagatay Ulker, passed through the then first deputy economy minister Romeo Mikautadze, for lobbying the construction of wind power plants; 1.5 million lari ($575,000) in February 2022 from Giorgi Khazhalia, founder of the company Express Service 2008, for help in gasification tenders, also through Mikautadze; protection of fraudulent call centres in 2021 to 2023, from which $1,365,000 was collected with the help of a relative; and protection of Kakhaber Gvantseladze, the former director of Tbilisi city hall's kindergarten agency, whose group took 5,325,943 lari ($2.04 million) in kickbacks on kindergarten procurement in 2018 to 2023 by the prosecution's count, part of it passed to Liluashvili.

Liluashvili got 2 years less than the maximum

Mikautadze testified against him. Liluashvili pleaded not guilty and the defence asked for an acquittal; he used his right to a last word at Wednesday's hearing. He was detained on 23 December 2025, after appearing for questioning at the prosecutor's office. Neither Interpressnews nor Novosti Gruzii reports whether the defence will appeal.

The service he left on 2 April 2025 has had four heads since: Okhanashvili from April to August 2025, Mamuka Mdinaradze from September 2025 to April 2026, Gela Geladze from April to this Monday, and, from Wednesday, Tamaz Borashvili, confirmed by 83 votes to none a few hours before the verdict was read.

Article 338 has a second former officeholder in front of it. Irakli Garibashvili, prime minister until January 2024, is charged under it over about 6.985 million lari ($2.68 million) and awaits a preliminary hearing on 19 October.

More from