PM Irakli Garibashvili (center) makes announcement about appointing Giorgi Mgebrishvili (left) as new Interior Minister and Kakhi Kakhishvili (right) as new minister in charge of the penitentiary system, August 1, 2015. Photo: government press office

Giorgi Mgebrishvili, who was minister in charge of the prison system, has been appointed as new Interior Minister.

Kakhi Kakhishvili, who was Mgebrishvili’s deputy in the penitentiary ministry since October 2014, will replace Mgebrishvili as new minister in charge of the prison system.

Mgebrishvili, 45, has replaced as the Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri, who was confirmed by the Parliament as head of the newly set up State Security Service for a six-year-term on July 22. The State Security Service was formally established from August 1, after decoupling of the intelligence and security agencies from the Interior Ministry.

New Interior Minister, Giorgi Mgebrishvili, has served as prison system minister since July, 2014. Before that he was governor of Kvemo Kartli region since December, 2013.

In 1998-2004 Mgebrishvili was an investigator in the Interior Ministry and then was an investigator in the financial police at the Ministry of Finance till 2007.  He served at various positions in the Revenue Service at the Ministry of Finance in 2007-2012 before being promoted as head of the customs department at the Revenue Service in November, 2012. He was head of the Interior Ministry’s state security agency for couple of months till November, 2013.

“Goga [referring to Giorgi Mgebrishvili] was really a successful minister,” PM Irakli Garibashvili said when announcing about new appointments in the government on August 1. “We have carried out radical reforms in the penitentiary system… Gross violation of human rights, torture, brutality, inhuman treatment, which was established practice for years in the penitentiary during [Mikheil] Saakashvili’s [presidency], has been completely eradicated.”

He also praised Mgebrishvili as “decent” person and “a good manager, who knows precisely what the [police] system, country, society and our police officers need.”

“I am confident that he will continue reform process of the Interior Ministry and tackle this task with success,” the PM said.

Mgebrishvili said that becoming the Interior Minister is a “huge challenge and responsibility” for him.

Mgebrishvili is the fourth Interior Minister since the Georgian Dream came into power in late 2012.

PM Garibashvili said that appointment of Kakhi Kakhishvili, 42, as new minister in charge of the prison system is “a clear signal for everyone that engagement of the civil society in the process of reform of the penitentiary will further increase and this system will become even more open and transparent and the reforms will move on to the new stage.”
 
Kakhishvili said: “We will work round the clock in order to on the one hand maintain order in this very difficult system and on the other hand to secure protection of human rights in the penitentiary system.”

These new appointments in the government do not require approval from the Parliament. Confidence vote from the legislative body is only needed when more than one-third of 20-member cabinet is changed.