A KREMLIN KIDNAP

In May 2025, 39 year old George Bachiashvili was abducted by the Georgian government. Having been forced to flee his country in the face of a rigged trial, George was seeking political asylum abroad. On the way to meet with his legal counsel, an unmarked Toyota pulled up alongside him, and George was kidnapped in broad daylight.

Several aggressive men stepped out of the car and forced George inside. They placed a black bag over his head and blindfolded him. Then they drove. Without any legal recourse or extradition trial, Ivanishvili and the Georgian government transported George across international borders, first in a car and then in a government-chartered plane. 

Not only is this a blatant violation of international law, but forced George to face a fixed trial, imprisonment, and mistreatment. 

 The Georgia Airlines jet that was used to transport George was registered in an operation directed by Bidzina Ivanishvili via Georgian state agencies. Georgian State Security Service chief Anri Okhanashvili was aboard the plane, and yet no international court approved George’s transfer. No authorities were notified of George’s forced return to Tbilisi. This was not a legal extradition: it was a politically motivated kidnapping.

George had fled Georgia just weeks earlier, after receiving credible threats to his safety and learning that the court case against him was already decided. George’s family was being threatened and the government warned him that hitmen were attempting to harm him. As a result, George had no choice but to flee and apply for political asylum in another country. He was engaging in that legal process when he was kidnapped. His abduction violently and illegally ended his ability to seek asylum.

George’s abduction sends a chilling message: no critic of the Georgian regime is safe, anywhere. 

Since his forced return to Georgia, George has been held in detention. He faces up to 21 years in prison on charges that human rights groups and legal experts have called completely unsubstantiated. Additionally, he likely faces torture and mistreatment at the hands of his captors. He is now a political prisoner: targeted for his beliefs, punished for his independence, and silenced for daring to speak out against Georgia’s most powerful oligarch, Bidzina Ivanishvili.