Sozar Subari

Sozar Subari (Georgian: სოზარ სუბარი) (born November 4, 1964) is a Georgian politician, journalist, and former human rights activist. He was formerly Georgia's Minister for IDPs, Accommodation and Refugees from 26 July 2014 to 13 June 2018. He served as a Public Defender (Ombudsman) of Georgia from 2004 to 2009 and Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance from 2012 to 2014.

Sozar Subari
სოზარ სუბარი
Adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia on topics of regional development
In office 8 September 2019 – 2 August 2022
Prime Minister	Giorgi Gakharia Irakli Garibashvili
In office 2018 – 3 September 2019
Prime Minister	Mamuka Bakhtadze
Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees
In office 26 July 2014 – 14 July 2018
Prime Minister	Irakli Garibashvili Giorgi Kvirikashvili
Preceded by	David Darakhvelidze
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Minister of Corrections
In office 25 October 2012 – 22 July 2014
Prime Minister	Bidzina Ivanishvili Irakli Garibashvili
Preceded by	Giorgi Tugushi
Succeeded by	Giorgi Mgebrishvili
Public Defender of Georgia
In office 16 September 2004 – 16 September 2009
Preceded by	Nana Devdariani Temur Lomsadze (acting)
Succeeded by	Giorgi Tughushi
Member of the Parliament of Georgia
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2012
Personal details
Born	(1964-11-04) November 4, 1964 Chuberi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (now Tbilisi, Georgia)
Political party	People's Power (2022-present) Georgian Dream (2012-2022) Georgia Party (2010-2012) Free Democrats (2009-2010)
Profession	historian, theologian, journalist

Subari was born as Sozar Subeliani (სოზარ სუბელიანი) in the highland village Chuberi (Svaneti). He studied history at the Tbilisi State University and theology at the Tbilisi Theological Academy. After a service as a deacon from 1989 to 1991, he took part in the armed conflict in Abkhazia in 1993. He was involved with the influential NGO Liberty Institute from 2000 to 2004. He also worked as a journalist, including being a correspondent for Radio Liberty, and an editor of the Tbilisi-based Kavkasioni newspaper.

Subari was elected as Public Defender of Georgia by the Parliament of Georgia for five years term in 2004. During his tenure, the ombudsman's role in Georgian society increased. Subari emerged as a prominent critic of the Mikheil Saakashvili government.[1] During the anti-government rally of 2007, he claimed to have been repeatedly beaten by the police, and stated, "Georgia is now the same as Lukashenko’s Belarus."[2] Later he claimed that the police breakdown was masterminded at a secret meeting of top military and police officials and that Georgia's Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili had ordered police to beat protesters, "mainly in the kidneys and the stomach".[3] On their part, the government officials have accused Subari of "politicizing" the Public Defender’s Office and turning into an opposition politician.[4]

Subari's term expired on 16 September, 2009. He was succeeded by Giorgi Tughushi, a ruling United National Movement party nominee, who was approved by the parliament in July 2009.[5] Subari himself joined the opposition Alliance for Georgia led by Georgia's former UN envoy, Irakli Alasania.[6] He later became one of the leaders of the Georgian Party, a culturally conservative group which promised to normalize relations with Russia.[7] In 2012, Subari became a member of the Georgian Dream party, founded by the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose coalition won the 2012 parliamentary election. After this, Subari became Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance in the cabinet of Bidzina Ivanishvili on 25 October, 2012, succeeding Giorgi Tughushi, his onetime successor as an ombudsman.[8]

On 2 August 2022, Subari co-founded the People's Power, a sovereignist offshoot of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The movement accused the Georgian foreign-funded NGOs of being "foreign agents" and proposed a legislation to curb the foreign influence. The bill was withdrawn after mass protests on 7 March 2023.