“The case contains nothing beyond my public statements. I am not even accused of doing anything covertly or in secret, of causing damage or harm to anyone,” declared Levan Khabeishvili, a member of the United National Movement, who stands charged with publicly promising monetary payments to officials as bribes and with incitement to the overthrow of the government, speaking during his closing statement at the court hearing.

Khabeishvili also said that “it ought to speak volumes that over the course of nine months the prosecutor has made no public statements about the case.”

“I have been in prison for nine months, and my entire trial lasted three hours. Administrative disputes routinely last for three to five hours. My case will amount to ten pages from start to finish. They had summoned three so-called ‘witnesses’; there are no witnesses in this case; there were three individuals, and another two were not even brought. The case contains nothing beyond my public statements. The public is well aware that, over these nine months, the prosecutor has remained largely invisible and has made no public statements. That ought to speak volumes. I have not seen a single public statement in which the prosecution defends its own position. The prosecution has not defended the position that I offered anything to anyone. There are no victims in this case, no party to whom I was transferring money, and no benefit that I would have received. When someone is accused of a crime, and I am allegedly offering something to another person, there is simply no benefit involved, no material gain or advantage for me. The prosecution has left me no room to even consider the possibility of, for example, admitting guilt. What am I to admit? These were public statements, and there is nothing beyond that. I am not even accused of doing anything covertly or in secret, of causing damage or harm. This is how it was perceived, and a politician is supposed to sit in prison on account of perceptions,” Khabeishvili declared.

The judge will deliver a verdict in the case tomorrow.

For reference, the State Security Service detained Levan Khabeishvili on September 11, 2025, on charges of publicly promising monetary payments to officials in the form of bribes.

He has been charged under Part 2 of Article 339 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which concerns the promise of a bribe, that is, the promise to transfer money to an official, for that official, in the exercise of his powers and the performance of his duties, to carry out some action or to refrain from carrying out some action in the interests of the person giving the bribe.

According to the investigation, Khabeishvili publicly disseminated appeals across television and social media platforms, promising bribes to law enforcement personnel on condition that, during demonstrations held against the government, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’s Special Task Force would refuse to carry out their assigned duties and would also refrain from using the special means lawfully at their disposal. For any such conduct, Levan Khabeishvili publicly promised to pay USD 200,000.

Furthermore, according to the investigation, Levan Khabeishvili publicly pledged to pay USD 200,000 as a bribe to police officers in exchange for confidential information and classified materials related to their official duties. He also promised the same amount to personnel of the Special Task Force, in exchange for refusing to attend training and exercises.

Levan Khabeishvili has also been charged under Article 317 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which concerns public incitement to the overthrow of state power. According to the prosecution, from June 2025 onwards, the accused systematically called upon citizens, through television broadcasts and social media, to commit acts such as the violent overthrow of state power, specifying particular dates and locations for this purpose.

The offence carries a custodial sentence of between four and seven years.