The sentence sees most opposition leaders behind bars as the ruling Georgian Dream squeezes critics and rivals.
A Georgian court has sentenced an opposition leader to seven months in prison, as a crackdown by the governing party on its rivals continues.
The Tbilisi court imposed the sentence on Giorgi Vashadze, a leader of the Strategy Builder party, on Tuesday for failing to cooperate with a commission investigating abuse of power by a former government.
The jailing means that nearly all of the country’s major pro-European opposition figures have now been imprisoned. The crackdown has increased accusations against the ruling Georgian Dream party that it is trampling on democracy amid ongoing protests in the wake of last year’s disputed elections.
Vashadze, deputy minister of justice from 2010 to 2012, was found guilty of refusing to cooperate with a government commission investigating alleged abuse during its time in power under former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
