Royal Opera House calls for release of Georgian bass singer jailed over democracy protests

The Royal Opera House in London has urged Keir Starmer to intervene in the case of Paata Burchuladze, a world-renowned bass singer who has been imprisoned in Georgia since October on a charge of leading a coup against the country’s authoritarian leader.The 71-year-old has performed at the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and collaborated with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. He was arrested after joining a protest outside the presidential palace in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Last week he was given a seven-year jail sentence which Burchuladze suggested to the court was equivalent to a life sentence given his age.Burchuladze became a rallying figure at nightly demonstrations against the government’s perceived pivot away from the west last autumn. He frequently sang to protesters from the back of a flatbed truck in freezing temperatures, and on 4 October he read out at a declaration claiming “power returns to the people” and calling the government “illegitimate”.He was subsequently detained with nine others accused of organising violence against the ruling regime, which is in effect led by Georgia’s richest man, the billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.Ivanishvili is the chair of the ruling party, Georgian Dream, and was hit with sanctions by the US in 2024 for undermining Georgia’s democracy for the benefit of Vladimir Putin and Russia.In a letter to the British prime minister, the Royal Opera’s director of casting, Peter Katona, claimed that Burchuladze was “being punished as a warning to others who dare oppose the regime”.He wrote: “I am writing to draw your urgent attention to the situation of the world-renowned Georgian opera singer and our dear friend Paata Burchuladze, who is currently held in pre-trial detention and is under the criminal investigation by the pro-Russian, authoritarian regime in Georgia.“The charges brought against Mr Burchuladze are entirely fabricated and unlawful. He is being persecuted solely because of his critical stance toward the ruling regime.”Katona told Starmer that Burchuladze had had a distinguished career at the Royal Opera House and had performed there many times over the years since his debut in 1984. “We are also considering to invite him again, also in the future in more senior roles,” he said.Paata Burchuladze in the Rimsky-Korsakov opera The Golden Cockerel at Sadler’s Wells in 1998. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian“Unfortunately, Paata Burchuladze is now among more than 100 political prisoners in Georgia. During recent peaceful demonstrations, more than 500 people were arrested, and more than 300 reported torture and ill treatment.“Your attention and solidarity would mean a great deal to the people of Georgia, who are striving to preserve freedom, human rights, and their democratic future,” Katona said.It is understood that the Royal Ballet and Opera has not received a response from Downing Street.The Foreign Office has said it is monitoring developments closely and will “raise, where appropriate, the importance of safeguarding detainees’ rights, including access to legal representation and family communication”.Burchuladze, who was born in Tbilisi, has been a high-profile pro-democracy campaigner in Georgia for more than a decade and formed a short-lived political party in 2016. He has also served as a goodwill ambassador for the UN and Unicef.In a statement made shortly before he was sentenced last week, Burchuladze said: “I am convinced that recognisable figures such as myself, however comfortable our circumstances, must stand at the forefront and set an example in the fight to defend our homeland.”During a previous court appearance, Burchuladze warned that the Georgian government was building an “iron fence” between Georgia and the west.The appeal by Britain’s Royal Opera has been echoed by Christina Scheppelmann, the general artistic director at Belgium’s national opera, La Monnaie, in Brussels.In a letter to the Belgian prime minister, Scheppelmann wrote: “It is evident that Mr Burchuladze cannot receive a fair trial. Like other political detainees, his fundamental rights are being violated and he is being punished as a warning to others who dare oppose the regime.”Burchuladze is among 114 people in Georgia who have either been sentenced to jail or are being held in detention related to protests. The EU has suspended its negotiations over Georgia’s accession to the bloc as a result of the regime’s democratic backsliding.Eka Gigauri, from the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, said: “These cases illustrate a clear pattern of punishment aimed at silencing those who oppose the ruling party’s pro-Russian policies and who peacefully defend Georgia’s democratic future in the face of increasing authoritarianism.”