New Charges Against Georgian President's Allies

Giorgi Kalandadze, chief of the Joint Staff, is now facing a second abuse-of-office charge.

Georgia's prosecutor-general has announced new charges against the country's former defense minister and the armed forces chief of staff.

Bacho Akhalaia, who also served as interior minister, is now charged with torture and illegal incarceration of soldiers.

Georgia's armed forces chief of Joint Staff, Giorgi Kalandadze, is now facing a second abuse-of-office charge.

New charges were filed over the alleged three-night incarceration of soldiers without heating and food in 2010.

Akhalaia, Kalandadze, and Georgian Army brigade commander Zurab Shamatava were arrested and charged with abuse of office last week.

Kalandadze and Shamatava were later released on bail.

The prosecutor-general officially requested Kalandadze's rearrest on November 13.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen expressed his concerns about "the recent arrests of political opponents in Georgia" at a meeting of NATO's Parliamentary Assembly in Prague on November 12.

Based on reporting by Interfax and Novosti-Gruzia