Georgia jails top opposition figures as authorities ramp up crackdown

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia has jailed four key opposition figures within days as part of a monthslong crackdown on dissent that followed a disputed election last October in the South Caucasus country.

Nearly all leaders of Georgia’s pro-Western opposition are now behind bars, as protests continue against the ruling Georgian Dream party and its decision last year to halt Georgia’s bid to join the European Union. The demonstrators, who gather daily in the capital, Tbilisi, also say that the vote on Oct. 26 that handed Georgian Dream another term in power was not free or fair.

On Tuesday, politician Giorgi Vashadze of the Strategy Agmashenebeli party was sentenced to eight months in prison for refusing to testify in an official probe that Georgian Dream’s critics call an act of political revenge.

The day before, three other opposition figures were handed comparable sentences after refusing to cooperate with the same parliamentary inquiry investigating alleged wrongdoings by the government of ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Badri Japaridze and Manuka Khazaradze were both jailed for eight months, while Zurab Japaridze received seven months.

Opposition politicians have declined to attend the commission hearings, citing their ongoing boycott of parliament following the Oct. 26. election. Georgian Dream's critics say the vote was rigged with Russia's help to hand it another term in power.

They also say the probe is a ploy by the ruling party to damage the opposition, particularly Saakashvili’s United National Movement party.

Speaking to The Associated Press before he was handcuffed on Tuesday, Vashadze said the commission hearings went “against the Georgian constitution” because no opposition lawmakers are represented, and that the probe’s aim is to persecute the opposition.

“They are afraid of us because we are fighting for our country, and they see that there is big support from Georgian society… That’s why I’m under arrest now,” he said.

Other prominent government critics remain in pre-trial detention for declining to appear before the commission investigating Saakashvili. They include Nika Melia, a former chairman of Saakashvili’s United National Movement party, and Nika Gvaramia, who was a minister in Saakashvili’s government. A former defense minister, Irakli Okruashvili, is also in custody.

Melia, Gvaramia, and Zurab Japaridze were among the leaders of the opposition grouping, Coalition for Change, that finished second in the October vote, according to official results.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday denied that their arrests were politically motivated.

Meanwhile, anti-government protests continue daily in central Tbilisi. While numbers are far lower than last autumn, the demonstrations are big enough to block traffic around the parliament building.

Many protesters have worn masks since the government imposed harsh penalties for blocking streets.

Elene Khoshtaria, another prominent opposition politician, on Tuesday slammed Georgian Dream for using “violence, repressions, political persecution” to snuff out dissent and Georgia’s “European future.”

She praised protesters for their persistence and called on Western countries to give stronger backing to Georgian Dream’s critics.

“We are all in solidarity with all our friends and political prisoners,” she said, referring to those jailed or detained in recent weeks. “As long as Georgia fights, I think our international partners should act in a very decisive and bold way.”

FILE - Police officers block demonstrators waving Georgian and EU flags during a rally to call for the release political prisoners and demand new elections in the center of Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze, File)

Police detain Mamuka Khazaradze, leader of Lelo for Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aleksandre Keshelashvili)

Police detain Badri Japaridze, leader of Lelo for Georgia in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mariam Qvashbaia)

FILE - Police detain a protester during a rally against the results of the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Zurab Japaridze, center, accused of failing to fulfill the demands of the Georgian parliament's temporary investigative commission probing the activities of the 2003-2012 government and its officials, attends a court hearing in Tbilisi, Georgia, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Irakli Gedenidze/Pool Photo via AP, File)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)