Nika Gvaramia

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Nika Gvaramia
ნიკა გვარამია
Minister of Education and Science
In office October 27, 2008 – December 7, 2009
President	Mikheil Saakashvili
Preceded by	Ghia Nodia
Succeeded by	Dimitry Shashkin
Minister of Justice of Georgia
In office January 31, 2008 – October 27, 2008
President	Mikheil Saakashvili
Preceded by	Eka Tkeshelashvili
Succeeded by	Zurab Adeishvili
First Deputy Prosecutor General
In office March 2007 – January 31, 2008
Member of the Parliament of Georgia
In office April 22, 2004 – April 5, 2007
Personal details
Born	(1976-06-29) June 29, 1976 (age 48) Sukhumi, Georgia
Political party	Ahali (2024-present)
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University Emory University School of Law

Nika Gvaramia (Georgian: ნიკა გვარამია) (born June 29, 1976) is a Georgian lawyer, media entrepreneur, public figure, who had held posts of Minister of Justice and Minister of Education and Science. He was the Director General of Rustavi 2 and Mtavari Arkhi is Founder of Mtavari Arkhi, an opposition television network. On March 11, he co-founded the political alliance Ahali (which translates to "new" in Georgian) alongside leading opposition figure Nika Melia, aiming for a significant impact in the 2024 general elections.

In November 2023, Gvaramia was awarded the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists, for his significant contributions to promoting freedom of speech and democratic ideals. In August 2023, the Ukrainian Parliament awarded Nika Gvaramia a prestigious medal for his service to the Ukrainian people.

On May 16, 2022, Gvaramia was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on charges of abuse of power and embezzlement while serving as director of a broadcaster.^[1]

Institutions like the European Parliament and the U.S. State Department widely recognized the case as politically motivated. Amnesty International called Gvaramia's imprisonment "a politically motivated silencing of dissenting voice." In light of public pressure and international outcry, on 22 June, 2023, Gvaramia was pardoned by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili.^[2]

On January 15, Gvaramia declared his move into the political arena through a message shared on social media platforms. He advocated for the creation of a broad political alliance to achieve victory in the critical parliamentary elections set for October 2024. In his earlier Voice of America interview, Gvaramia stated that "either we have democracy on the ground, or we are Russia. There is no third option from my perspective."