17 Facts About Vano Merabishvili

Ivane "Vano" Merabishvili is a Georgian politician and 9th Prime Minister of Georgia from 4 July to 25 October 2012.

Vano Merabishvili graduated from the Georgian Technical University in 1992 with a degree from the Faculty of Mining.

In 2002, Vano Merabishvili became Secretary General of Mikheil Saakashvili's newly formed opposition National Movement.

Vano Merabishvili was energetically involved in the protest movement following the November 2003 parliamentary elections which led to Shevardnadze's resignation in the bloodless Rose Revolution.

In December 2004, the Ministry of State Security was merged with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of which Vano Merabishvili was placed in charge.

Vano Merabishvili himself accused the opposition parties of trying to use the Girgvliani murder case "for their political interests" and declared that he did not plan to resign.

Ivanishvili called on Vano Merabishvili to convince President Saakashvili to step down.

Vano Merabishvili later said he did not consider Ivanishvili to have been the government's "serious rival".

Vano Merabishvili said his program would be focused on the three key priorities: employment, agriculture development and availability of healthcare.

Vano Merabishvili was approved by the Parliament of Georgia on July 4,2012.

The Lopota incident, which began on August 28,2012, became a focal point for Vano Merabishvili's handling of national security towards unknown assailants, which lasted until October 30,2012 as the assailants were mostly killed in action by security forces, and the remaining were arrested.

On October 15,2012, Vano Merabishvili was elected as secretary-general of the United National Movement, pledging to a "modern, new type of party".

In September 2016 Vano Merabishvili was further sentenced to 6,5 years in prison on charges of ordering the beating of the opposition parliament member Valeri Gelashvili.

The Government of Georgia appealed the case to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, but on 28 November 2017, the Grand Chamber by a majority ruled that pretrial detention of Vano Merabishvili, initially justified, became aimed at obtaining information on unrelated cases, including the one against former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Ivane Vano Merabishvili was only the third politician in relation to whom this breach was established by the Court and first case of this kind in the history of Georgia.

Prime Minister and Georgian Dream politician Giorgi Gakharia dismissed Vano Merabishvili's threats as proof that the United National Movement was a party of the past, while Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani described Vano Merabishvili as a political hot potato.

Vano Merabishvili claimed on Facebook that he was deliberately provided substandard medical care during his imprisonment, needing to travel to Poland to seek treatment before returning to Georgia.