Police: Two Georgian Dream Activists Arrested for ‘Attempt to Recruit’ Counter-Intelligence Officer

The Interior Ministry said on June 27 that two activists of the Georgian Dream opposition coalition, led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, were arrested for an attempted “recruitment” of a senior counter-intelligence officer.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the two men, one of them former employee of special services, offered an officer from Counter-Intelligence Department to pass on the information “regarding ongoing and planned operative-investigative activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs” in exchange for money.

The two activists of the Georgian Dream, Irakli Pertenava and Zurab Pipia , have been charged with “preparation of abuse of power”, said the Interior Ministry, which has also released secretly recorded video footage of conversations between the counter-intelligence officer and the two arrested men.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the Interior Ministry said it arrested a man who, it claimed, tried to “recruit” a police officer on behalf of the Georgian Dream for gathering and passing on information about developments within the police. The Georgian Dream said at the time that the case was fabricated and part of the authorities’ campaign of targeting Ivanishvili-led opposition coalition.