A court in Georgia on Thursday put opposition leader Zurab Japaridze in pre-trial detention.

The move comes as the government looks to crack down on its critics, following huge protests last year.

Why has Japaridze been jailed?

Japaridze is one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, which came in second in a parliamentary election in 2024.

Opposition parties, including the Coalition for Change, are boycotting the current legislature amid accusations that the ruling Georgian Dream party rigged the vote in October.

Japaridze had refused to appear at an inquiry into alleged crimes committed between 2004 and 2012, during the term of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili — who has since been jailed.

Japaridze, who featured prominently in the street protests last year, had also refused to pay bail and had been held in contempt by parliament. 

He has denounced the parliamentary probe as being illegitimate and of being unduly influenced by the ruling party.

His lawyer Irakli Chomakhashvili told AFP that the court ruling is a "politically motivated decision, an attempt to silence a critical political voice."

Ahead of the hearing, Japaraidze had slammed the "sham trial," accusing Georgian Dream of leading the Black Sea nation "into dictatorship."

Failure to appear before a parliamentary inquiry can be punished by up to a year in prison, according to Georgia's criminal code.

What is the situation in Georgia?

Other opposition figures have also been accused of similar offenses. They have also refused to appear at hearings and have rejected the parliamentary inquiry as illegitimate.

The opposition and government critics accuse Tbilisi of mimicking authoritarian tactics employed by Moscow and steering the country towards Russia and away from Europe and its aspirations of joining the European Union.

While the government denies those allegations, last year Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream party postponed accession talks with Brussels until 2028.

That decision revived street protests that had rocked the country in 2023 and 2024 after the government introduced the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence — referred to by critics as the "Russian Law" — which requires NGOs to register as foreign agents or "organizations carrying the interests of a foreign power."

Georgia has had no formal ties with Russia since Moscow backed separatists in two breakaway provinces in 2008.

Edited by: Sean Sinico