Former Adjara regional leader Tornike Rizhvadze was admitted to a clinic in Sagarejo on 7 July with a gunshot wound to the chest that damaged a lung, according to Georgia’s Interior Ministry. Doctors carried out emergency surgery before transferring him to Tbilisi’s First University Clinic, where he remains on mechanical ventilation in serious but stable condition. Investigators have opened a criminal inquiry under Article 115 on incitement to suicide and detained Aleksi Akhvlediani, head of the Georgian Maritime Transport Agency, for alleged negligent storage of a firearm. Pro-government broadcaster Imedi published what it said was a handwritten note by Rizhvadze taking sole responsibility for the act, but the clinic and independent journalists say they have seen no such document and cannot verify its authenticity. Rizhvadze stepped down as chairman of Adjara’s government in April, ending a six-year tenure under the ruling Georgian Dream party. Political analysts and opposition figures argue the shooting underscores deep factional rifts inside the governing bloc, which is already under heightened scrutiny at home and abroad.