The charge runs under Article 338 of the criminal code, bribery by a holder of state political office, in a group and in an especially large amount, and carries 11 to 15 years. The prosecution's account: in 2022 to 2024, medical-equipment purchases for a military hospital went through classified procedures at inflated prices, at a cost to the state of 6,985,255 lari, about $2.7 million, and 750,000 lari reached Garibashvili by hand from Juansher Burchuladze, his former defense minister.
Burchuladze is already serving 10 years in the same scheme.
Garibashvili counted 8 months of prison silence in the letter that surfaced on 20 August, his third. It named Mamuka Mdinaradze as the man who relayed a guilty-plea demand to his family through an intermediary, and said arrest had twice been hinted at for his father.
The ruling party answered through Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze the same day the charge landed: Garibashvili's “safety and rights are protected”, his statements read to Kaladze as “preventive”, and former politicians, he said, turn legal matters into political ones.
Burchuladze is already serving 10 years in the same scheme.
No trial date is public. The sequence on the record: a letter about pressure on 20 August, an 11-to-15-year charge on 24 August, and a mayor's assurance that rights are protected.