[2] In April 2001, with a simmering conflict in the UCG, Merabishvili, then a chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Economic Policy, became the first and, at that time, the only leading member of the party to openly criticise Shevardnadze.
[4] As interior minister, Merabishvili presided over police reform and a crackdown on criminal bosses, the so-called "thieves in law", winning praise from many international institutions and observers.
[6] In 2006, a controversy surrounding the murder of Sandro Girgvliani, a 28-year-old commercial bank employee, had a significant political fallout and was at the forefront of several opposition attempts to force Merabishvili to resign.
Girgvliani's family accused interior ministry officials of murdering Sandro after he insulted them and Tako Salaqaia, Merabishvili's wife, during an argument in a café.
[10] The Interior Ministry enlarged its responsibilities, taking greater control of border police and was designated by President Saakashvili to oversee distribution of the substantial international assistance for Georgians displaced in the August conflict with Russia.
[11] In a March 2009 interview with Rustavi 2 TV, Merabishvili said the assumption that he was the most powerful figure in Saakashvili's administration was "over-exaggerated", yet confirmed that in some cases the President had given him broader tasks.
[12] In December 2011, Merabishvili's achievements as a Minister of Internal Affairs were praised by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a multi-billionaire businessman, who came into Georgian politics with the intent to challenge the government in the October 2012 parliamentary election.
[17] On May 21, 2013, Merabishvili and Zurab Tchiaberashvili, governor of Kakheti and former Minister of Health, were arrested in connection to an investigation into alleged misspending of GEL 5.2 million public funds on their party activists during the 2012 election campaign, leading to accusations of political vendetta leveled by the United National Movement against the Ivanishvili government.
[22] In 2015 report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on Georgia, the CPT states that current condition of detention of Mr Merabishvili “could be considered as amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment.”[23] On 14 June 2016, the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case Merabishvili v Georgia[24] that the repeated extension of Merabishvili's pre-trial detention "lacked reasonableness" and was exploited "as an additional opportunity to obtain leverage over the unrelated investigation" into the death of the former Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and financial activities of former President Mikheil Saakashvili.
[30] In March, writing for the Eurasian Daily Monitor, Giorgi Menabde suggested that the opposition were in fact unwilling to accept Merabishvili into their parties due to a fear he may be too controversial.
Though he can run as an independent candidate for the Akhaltsikhe seat in the 2020 Georgian parliamentary election, Iosif Tsintsadze rejected the possibility of Merabishvili winning without party support.
[31] Merabishvili claimed on Facebook that he was deliberately provided substandard medical care during his imprisonment, needing to travel to Poland to seek treatment before returning to Georgia.