Zviad Kharazishvili

Zviad Kharazishvili (; born 20 March 1975), commonly known by the nickname Khareba , is a Georgian law enforcement officer and police colonel. He headed the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia until 10 June 2025. Published sources disagree on when he was appointed: Byline Times gives September 2019, while Netgazeti and Civil Georgia give 2021. He had previously served in the Special State Protection Service of Georgia, units of the Interior Ministry, and the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG), where he commanded a special-purpose unit known as Shavnabada.

Kharazishvili became widely known for commanding units used to disperse demonstrations and for allegations of excessive force. Between 2024 and 2025, the United States, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the Czech Republic imposed restrictive measures on him, stating that he bore responsibility for serious human-rights abuses. On 30 January 2025, he received Georgia's Order of Honor.

Background and nickname Kharazishvili was born on 20 March 1975. His official asset declarations and the profile published by Byline Times give his birthplace as Khashuri.

According to Byline Times, Kharazishvili was using the nickname Khareba by the early 2000s; the publication linked it to Khareba Jibuti, a protagonist of the 1987 film Khareba da Gogia by Giorgi Shengelaia.

Career

Early service and work in the Interior Ministry According to Byline Times, Kharazishvili began serving in the Special State Protection Service of Georgia in the mid-1990s, during the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze. In 2024, Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri similarly said that Kharazishvili had worked in the security services for almost 30 years and had begun at approximately the same time as Gomelauri himself.

In 2009, Kharazishvili took part in a security operation connected with the Mukhrovani mutiny, during which wanted suspect Gia Krialishvili was killed by security forces. It is not the 13th "Shavnabada" Light Infantry Battalion, a separate military unit of the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Defence Forces of Georgia that has served, among other places, in Afghanistan.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Kharazishvili commanded the SSSG Shavnabada unit during the dispersal of the 20–21 June 2019 protests known as Gavrilov's Night.

As director, Kharazishvili led the department during the 2023 and 2024 protests against the law on the transparency of foreign influence, the 2024 parliamentary election and the protests that followed. Gomelauri publicly defended him as an experienced and distinguished officer who had served in the security agencies for nearly 30 years and had participated in war and numerous operations.

Protest policing and allegations of violence

Foreign-agent-law protests Kharazishvili's name was linked to the dispersal of protests against the proposed foreign-agent law in March 2023. Zurab Japaridze, leader of Girchi – More Freedom, alleged that Kharazishvili had ordered his detention and the use of force against him; Netgazeti reported this as Japaridze's allegation rather than as an investigative finding.

During the spring 2024 protests, demonstrators, journalists and human-rights groups accused Special Tasks Department personnel of beatings and other ill-treatment. On 1 May, United National Movement chairman Levan Khabeishvili was severely beaten; he later alleged that the attack had been carried out on Kharazishvili's orders. The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) characterised the statement as a public threat of violent practices, urged department personnel not to obey unlawful orders and called on the Special Investigation Service to question Kharazishvili and conduct investigative measures.

On 16 September 2024, the United States Treasury stated that violence against protesters, opposition politicians and journalists had been overseen by Kharazishvili and his deputy Mileri Lagazauri, and that Kharazishvili had personally participated in physical and verbal abuse of protesters. The order therefore did not formally appoint Kharazishvili to lead all territorial groups, but it authorised him to choose his department's representatives.

Transparency International Georgia criticised the arrangement, arguing that participation by a sanctioned department head in forming the groups created risks of voter intimidation and misuse of administrative resources.

Post-election protests and 2025 allegations After the pro-European protests escalated on 28 November 2024, Interior Ministry personnel, including the Special Tasks Department, were again accused of systematic violence against demonstrators and journalists. In December, the United Kingdom, referring to reports of targeted beatings verified by Georgia's Public Defender, imposed sanctions on several Interior Ministry leaders, including Kharazishvili.

On 4 December 2024, Kharazishvili denied that special-forces personnel had beaten anyone, saying that people had instead been “repelled” according to the situation. Asked who had beaten Formula journalist Guram Rogava, he replied that he did not know who Rogava was.

Data Kharaishvili, who was detained on the night of 3 December, alleged that Kharazishvili had been present while detainees were beaten and had filmed them on his phone, and that special-unit officers forced detainees to say “Long live Khareba”, continuing to beat those who refused. This was an alleged victim's testimony, not a judicial finding.

On 8 December, demonstrators burned an effigy of Kharazishvili outside the Georgian Parliament.

In a December 2024 interview, Grigol Sakandelidze, a former head of operations planning and management in the Special Tasks Department, criticised the use of anti-terrorism-trained police special forces for crowd control. He alleged that Kharazishvili managed protest dispersals and had broad discretion over personnel appointments; he also said that staff were drawn from SSSG special units, particularly personnel stationed at Shavnabada, and from private-security companies. These were Sakandelidze's allegations, as reported by Civil Georgia.

On 2 February 2025, GYLA called for Kharazishvili to be prosecuted, stating that published video showed him directly participating in violence against a detainee under effective police control. Mamuka Diasamidze alleged that Kharazishvili had personally kicked him in the face after his detention. At the time of those publications, these remained allegations by a rights organisation and an alleged victim, rather than final judicial findings.

Public remarks On 4 December 2024, while responding to a Formula TV journalist's question about Russian influence, Kharazishvili used a homophobic slur. A joint submission by Georgian and international human-rights organisations to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe described the statement as discriminatory rhetoric that undermined LGBTI people's trust in law enforcement.

International sanctions The measures below were administrative sanctions imposed by the respective states; they were not criminal convictions by a Georgian or international court. Date State Measures and stated grounds 16 September 2024 United States OFAC designated Kharazishvili under the Global Magnitsky programme pursuant to Executive Order 13818. His property and interests in property within United States jurisdiction were blocked. The Treasury cited his leadership of an entity whose members, in its assessment, had committed serious human-rights abuses during protests. 2 December 2024 Latvia Inclusion in Latvia's list of personae non gratae and an indefinite entry ban under section 61(2) of the Immigration Law, adopted in coordination with the other Baltic states. 29 January 2025 Czech Republic Inclusion in the Czech national sanctions list under Government Resolution No. 77. The published list gives 29 January 2025 as the decision date and identifies the legal provisions authorising financial and entry-related restrictions. On 10 June, however, following the appointment of Gela Geladze as interior minister and a wider personnel reshuffle, Kharazishvili left the post and was succeeded by Roman Kartsivadze. The request itself did not mean that Kharazishvili had been charged.

On 5 December 2025, the State Security Service questioned Kharazishvili and former interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri as part of an investigation opened after a BBC report alleging that a chemical agent had been used to disperse protesters. The investigation was opened under articles 333 and 319 of Georgia's Criminal Code; the cited reports did not say that Kharazishvili had been charged.

On 7 December 2025, Metropolitan Iob consecrated St Catherine's Church in the village of Sagolasheni. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Kharazishvili and businessman Slava Sherazadishvili had financed its construction, and that Iob thanked both men from the pulpit as the church's ktitors (builders-benefactors). Former interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri attended the service. Kharazishvili told the outlet that the church had taken seven years to build.

In January 2026, Kharazishvili said that he had left the system voluntarily, had received no offer to return and did not intend to do so unless, in his words, the country needed him.

After prosecutors announced charges in May 2026 against five serving and former law-enforcement officers in cases concerning attacks on demonstrator Zviad Maisashvili, politician Levan Khabeishvili and journalist Guram Rogava, Kharazishvili denied that any order to beat protesters had existed. He said that no minister or superior had issued such an order to him and that he was prepared to answer personally for any violations of his own, while maintaining that neither he nor his subordinates had committed crimes.

Khabeishvili separately renewed his allegation that Kharazishvili had been present during the May 2024 attack, had filmed it and had demanded that he describe himself as a coward on camera. Khabeishvili said that the assault lasted 27 minutes. The prosecution announcement described in the report said that two serving or former Special Tasks Department employees had been detained over the attack; it did not state that Kharazishvili had been charged.

Award Order of Honor — awarded on 30 January 2025 “for a special contribution to strengthening law and order”. President Mikheil Kavelashvili presented the award after Kharazishvili was jointly nominated by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

Personal life, assets and business interests Kharazishvili's 2023 and 2024 asset declarations record one child. a apartment in Tbilisi, acquired on 31 January 2005 for US$15,000; a land plot in Tbilisi, acquired on 10 November 2010 for US$3,000; a land plot in Sagolasheni, Kareli Municipality, acquired through land reform on 24 December 2012; and a land plot in Sagolasheni, acquired through land reform on 6 March 2018.

In its periodically updated catalogue of alleged high-level corruption, Transparency International Georgia summarised a June 2025 Formula investigation which alleged that two expensive private houses and substantial agricultural land connected with Kharazishvili were registered in the names of his parents and other relatives. The catalogue presented this as a journalistic allegation, not an official or judicial finding.

The 2023 declaration also listed a 2002 Jeep Wrangler, acquired in 2011 for 9,600 Georgian lari; the vehicle was no longer listed in the 2024 declaration.

Byline Times, citing three former security officials, alleged that Sarangi was used to coordinate attacks against opposition figures and channel money to participants. Former member of parliament Givi Targamadze, citing his own sources in the Georgian security services, alleged a payment of US$5,000 per attack. The publication did not present the claims as findings of an official investigation; neither Kharazishvili nor company representatives responded to its request for comment.