Georgian Dream is moving ahead with its Constitutional Court lawsuit seeking to ban nearly all major opposition parties in Georgia, with hearings scheduled for October 21, 22 and 23. Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili announced that four Georgian Dream MPs — Archil Gorduladze, Giorgi Kakhiani, Tengiz Sharmanashvili and Tornike Cheishvili — will represent the party before the Constitutional Court. The lawsuit seeks to ban five opposition parties and coalitions: Unity – National Movement, Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia – Lelo, the Federalist Party, and Gakharia for Georgia.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has accused the European Union of interfering in the country’s domestic affairs after Brussels criticised Georgian Dream’s efforts to ban five major opposition parties. In a statement, the ministry, headed by Maka Bochorishvili, expressed concern over EU officials’ criticism of the ongoing Constitutional Court proceedings, describing it as inappropriate pressure on an independent judicial institution. The ministry argued that questioning the legitimacy of the case before the court examines its merits amounts to prejudging the proceedings and interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs. It urged EU representatives to refrain from statements that could undermine judicial independence. The statement followed remarks by European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand, who said the EU was closely monitoring the party-ban lawsuit and the Constitutional Court’s handling of it. Wigand described the developments as evidence of a “worrying instrumentalisation of the justice system,” warning that they threatened fundamental freedoms, democratic pluralism and fair political competition. Georgian Dream’s lawsuit seeks to ban five major opposition parties and coalitions, including the United National Movement, Coalition for Change, Strong Georgia–Lelo, the Federalists and Gakharia for Georgia. The Constitutional Court has scheduled consecutive hearings for October 21–23.

Fake job advertisements offering employment in Georgia may be used to recruit people into contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry, according to the Russian anti-war organisation Idite Lesom (“Get Lost”), which helps Russians avoid conscription and leave the military. The organisation reported that a man responding to an advertisement for manual labour in Tbilisi and Rustavi was offered a daily wage of 200 GEL, free accommodation and three meals a day. However, after contacting the advertiser, he was told the positions in Georgia had been filled and was instead offered work in Russian-occupied Kherson or Russia’s Belgorod region, with a monthly salary of 170,000–210,000 rubles and free travel from Tbilisi to Moscow. The employer requested a copy of his passport and explained that he would have to sign two contracts: one with the employer and another with the Russian Defence Ministry. “We will sign two contracts. I want to tell you from the outset: one with us and the other with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation,” the employer wrote in messages published by Idite Lesom. The recruiter claimed that the military contract was necessary to obtain permission to work in border areas. The documents provided included employment contracts referencing a Russian private security company and positions such as security guard and communications specialist. According to the man, an identical advertisement using the same Telegram contact details appeared on another platform on October 18.

Formula TV host Vakho Sanaia is seen handcuffed and sent to detention for 30 days for mocking Georgian Dream figures, including Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Facebook in a development that signals even deeper fall of freedom of speech in Georgia under Georgian Dream.

Georgian Dream Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has lashed out at France over ongoing demonstrations, suggesting that Paris is facing the consequences of its involvement in Georgia. “Those who sow the wind in another country will reap a storm in their own,” Papuashvili wrote on social media, commenting on protests in France. His post was accompanied by a photograph published by the French Embassy in April 2025, showing embassy representatives alongside members of SovLab, the Soviet Past Research Laboratory, a Georgian research organisation. The photograph was taken after SovLab received a French Embassy grant for a project documenting the geography of Soviet terror in Gori and Kutaisi. With the embassy’s support, SovLab developed educational walking tours in both cities, highlighting suppressed and forgotten histories of Soviet repression following Russia’s occupation of Georgia in 1921. Papuashvili also wrote that the people pictured were “neither Venetian cartographers nor Egyptian students eager to learn,” an apparent reference to the historical mapping project and the controversy surrounding French support for Georgian civil society. The post linked contemporary demonstrations in France to the French Embassy’s support for a Georgian historical research initiative, without explaining how the two were connected.

Prominent Georgian journalist and Formula TV presenter Vakho Sanaia has been sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention for social media posts mocking Georgian Dream Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and MP Lado Bozhadze. The decision was handed down by Judge Tornike Kochkiani. This is Sanaia’s second administrative detention for social media posts about the two politicians. Sanaia had previously served 14 days in detention for allegedly ‘insulting’ Papuashvili and Bozhadze.. After his release, Sanaia published another sarcastic post asking whether the politicians themselves would face imprisonment if they asked people not to call them the same word. Authorities also cited a video mocking Papuashvili’s description of anti-government protesters as a “pseudo-religious sect.” The Interior Ministry said it requested 30 days of detention because Sanaia had repeated the alleged offence. A ministry representative argued that his posts exceeded the limits of freedom of expression and the criticism politicians are expected to tolerate.

Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Yerevan on Friday, with Tehran calling for a concrete action plan to deepen bilateral cooperation amid growing concerns over Iranian influence in Georgia. The meeting took place on the sidelines of an international summit in the Armenian capital. According to the Iranian presidency, Pezeshkian called for a clear framework and timetable to expand economic, cultural and tourism cooperation between the two countries. Kobakhidze, for his part, stressed Georgia’s “opposition to foreign interference in neighbouring countries’ domestic affairs” and emphasised the “importance of friendship and cooperation with Iran.” During the meeting, Pezeshkian also criticised U.S. sanctions against Iran, defended Tehran’s nuclear programme and insisted that Iran would not submit to external pressure.

Georgia’s government channels public advertising and information-service contracts to pro-government media outlets involved in coordinated disinformation campaigns and attacks on political opponents, journalists and independent institutions, according to a new report by the Media Development Foundation (MDF). MDF identified 351 instances in 2025–2026 in which pro-government outlets amplified posts from fake Facebook accounts, some of which repeatedly changed their names and profile photographs. The outlets most frequently citing these accounts included Reportiori, Lideri, Kviris Media Holding, Infopostalon, NSP.ge, Mkhare and Newshub, as well as the online platforms of pro-government television channel Imedi. The report also documents the publication of confidential information potentially obtained through state surveillance, leaked private communications and non-public documents used to discredit government critics. MDF says the findings point to close coordination between state institutions and publicly funded pro-government media in disseminating disinformation and targeting political opponents.

Activist Giorgi Kirvalidze who left detention facility following seven day administrative detention for “insulting" Bidzina Ivanishvili is detained right at the doorstep of the detention facility with new criminal charges, this time for “insulting" a judge.

The body of Georgian volunteer Lasha Broladze who died in battle in Ukraine has arrived in Tbilisi.

Georgia has climbed from fifth to third place among countries attracting the most interest from Russian property buyers, according to a study published on October 13 by Russian real estate consultancy NF GROUP. In the third quarter of 2026, Georgia accounted for 17% of Russian inquiries about overseas real estate, up from just 5% in the first half of the year. The United Arab Emirates topped the ranking with 37%, followed by Thailand with 25%. Georgia came third, ahead of Turkey at 12%. NF GROUP cautioned that Georgia’s rise was largely driven by individual transactions rather than a significant shift in buyer preferences. Russian buyers reportedly favour properties suitable for both holiday use and rental income.

Iranian activist Mohammad Mahdi Rahimian, who has lived in Georgia since 2022, was detained by Georgia’s Interior Ministry and transferred to a temporary accommodation centre for migrants after his asylum application was rejected. The Interior Ministry says Rahimian no longer has a legal basis to remain in Georgia. He applied for international protection in December 2022, but the Migration Department rejected his request in June 2024. Georgian courts later upheld the decision, and his asylum-seeker status was terminated in June 2026. Rights Georgia, which is providing legal assistance to Rahimian, warned that he would face a “real and imminent threat” to his life and safety if deported to Iran. The organisation urged Georgian authorities to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning a person to a country where they may face persecution, torture or other serious harm. Rahimian’s friends say he was politically active against the Iranian government and took part in protests in Georgia, including demonstrations linked to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and protests against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His family, including two daughters who attend school in Georgia, remains in the country. Friends say they fear he could be arrested or killed if returned to Iran.

Georgian Constitutional Court judge Manana Kobakhidze has resigned after the court rejected her request to recuse herself from Georgian Dream’s lawsuit seeking to ban opposition parties. According to the Constitutional Court, Kobakhidze’s judicial authority was terminated early on October 13, 2026, on the basis of her personal statement. Kobakhidze, a former Georgian Dream chair and MP in two parliamentary convocations, had only several months left in her 10-year term as Constitutional Court judge. She had asked to be removed from the party-ban case, arguing that her past political role and public criticism of the United National Movement could raise reasonable doubts about impartiality. Kobakhidze noted that she had previously called on UNM members to dissolve the party and leave politics. The Constitutional Court rejected her motion on October 12, saying that previous political activity or general political criticism did not automatically require a judge’s recusal.

Georgia’s Constitutional Court will hear Georgian Dream’s lawsuit seeking to ban opposition parties on October 21, 22 and 23, according to opposition politicians. Lelo leader Irakli Kupradze said the hearings had been “rushed,” while Gakharia for Georgia member Berdia Sichinava said the court called him and told him to appear at the hearing on “your ban,” without formally sending the lawsuit or waiting for the party’s written position. The case concerns a lawsuit filed by 88 Georgian Dream MPs seeking to examine the constitutionality and possible banning of five opposition forces: Unity – National Movement, Coalition for Change – Gvaramia, Melia, Girchi, Droa, Strong Georgia – Lelo, For the People, For Freedom!, the Federalist Party, and Gakharia for Georgia. The court has published the plenary composition. Revaz Nadaraya will chair the hearings, while Vasil Roinishvili will serve as rapporteur judge.

Georgian Dream MP Levan Machavariani says the European Union will “sooner or later” have to sit down and start talking to Georgian Dream. Machavariani accused what he called Brussels’ “ruling elite” of remaining in a “sulking mode” because, he said, they failed to force Georgia into becoming a “proxy country.” “They could not change us through revolution, nor through elections, because the main guarantor of all this is the Georgian people,” Machavariani said. He said Georgian Dream was ready to “put everything aside,” forget what he described as injustice, and restart relations with the EU “from a new page.” “The EU knows our position and our readiness for substantive discussion. The ball is in their court. Sooner or later, they will have to sit down and start talking to Georgian Dream,” Machavariani said.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says democratic backsliding in Georgia is worsening and that Georgian Dream is systematically depriving the Georgian people of their European future. Speaking after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, Kallas said more opposition parties in Georgia now face the threat of being banned, while the foreign agents law is “suffocating” civil society. “The Georgian people want a European future, but Georgian Dream is systematically taking it away from them,” Kallas said. She added that the EU’s current approach is not creating enough pressure to bring about change and does not fully serve Europe’s strategic interests. “We will return to this issue in January,” Kallas said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos says the EU will not resume cooperation with the Georgian government unless it reverses its current course and takes steps toward European values. Speaking in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Kos said Georgia’s EU candidate status now exists “only on paper.” “We very much want to resume cooperation with the Georgian authorities, but for that they have to take steps,” Kos said. “They are moving backwards with the many laws they have already adopted.” She said cooperation with the government would remain frozen unless Georgia moves forward on the European path.

A Georgian election watchdog says it has exposed a coordinated fake Facebook network created to artificially boost the image of Georgian Dream leaders on social media. According to the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, more than 400 inauthentic accounts were identified, most of them carrying Georgian names and surnames. The overwhelming majority were created in just two days, on August 25–26, 2026. The accounts liked and amplified posts featuring statements by Georgian Dream leaders Irakli Kobakhidze, Shalva Papuashvili, Kakha Kaladze and Irakli Kirtskhalia, including on the Facebook page of InterPressNews. The watchdog says 303 accounts were created on August 25 and another 109 on August 26, meaning 97% of the network became active within two days. Their Facebook ID numbers were also close to each other, which the organisation says indicates mass registration over a short period. According to the monitoring, 295 of the 424 fake accounts used AI-generated profile pictures, while 22 used photos of well-known athletes, actors and directors. The organisation says the evidence suggests the network is managed from a single centre and aims to create an artificial impression of popularity and public support for Georgian Dream.

On day 682 of Georgia's uninterrupted protest, protesters march in traditional Saturday March. 📹 Publika

A member of Georgia’s central bank board and Georgian Dream loyalist, Nana Keinishvili, has been exposed allegedly demanding an ownership stake in a cryptocurrency exchange regulated by the bank. The company’s refusal was followed by a staggering GEL 572 million (approximately USD 210 million) regulatory fine. Georgia’s State Security Service had possessed covert recordings of the alleged scheme since 2024 but took no publicly disclosed action until the scandal was about to be exposed by Georgian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). 🔗 formulanews.ge/News/134795