Gov’t reacts to President Margvelashvili’s statement of illegal pressure

Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze wants to meet President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Chairman of the Constitutional Court Giorgi Papuashvili to hear details of allegations of pressure being put on the President and his family members, and of judges, by law enforcers.

Today Margvelashvili and Papuashvili met at the President’s Residence in Avlabari to talk about instances where Papuashvili said law enforcers put undue pressure on judges of the Constitutional Court of Georgia. 

President Giorgi Margvelashvili meet Chairman of the Constitutional Court Giorgi papuashvili. Photo by the President's press office

Papuashvili first voiced such allegations several days ago, and met with the President today to give him a clearer understanding of the situation.

After the meeting President Margvelashvili led a press conference where he said Papuashvili told him of "concrete cases” where judges had been pressured, and he said he wasn’t surprised by this as a member of his family was also the victim of "an attempt of pressure” by law enforcers about a month ago. 

Margvelashvili did not give many details but said one of his family members was stopped by a police officer in the street, then the person’s house was searched without a warrant or permission from the Court.

Margvelashvili believed this was an "attempt of pressure” and he now wanted to meet with Georgia’s Prime Minister and Parliament Speaker to discuss such "dangerous tendencies”.

The President stressed he was confident that Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili himself or other top officials weren’t involved in this type of activity but he noted "some "political groups” had established close ties with police and other agencies, and pressuring people was a tactic used to further the party’s political interests.

Shortly after the President’s statement, Georgia’s Chief Prosecutor Shotadze issued a responsive statement saying he would meet the President and Constitutional Court chairman "immediately or at their earliest convenience” to listen to more details about their allegations.

Meanwhile Georgia’s Prime Minister responded to the situation and he said he was also interested in meeting the President to learn more about the situation.

Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili. Photo by the PM's press office

Kvirikashvili added several days ago he spoke with Margvelashvili about the incident involving his family member and he ruled out that the incident had a political motive. 

"I immediately instructed the Interior Ministry to quickly investigate the case. I rule out that this was blackmail and political pressure,” PM Kvirikashvili said this afternoon.

"If there were any procedural errors, a reaction will be very strict but I rule out a political component in it.”

Shortly after these statements, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs – responsible for the country’s law enforcers – released a statement that offered further details of the case involving the President’s relation. The Ministry said the decision to release the information was due to the high public interest in the case.

The agency said currently there was an ongoing investigation at the criminal police of Georgia regarding illegal purchase, possession and carrying of firearms. Based on operational information on June 28 law enforcers searched three people in a Tbilisi street. All of the three searched people have previously convictions. 

"One of these three individuals was a man who is in an unregistered marriage with the daughter of the President’s wife,” the Ministry said.

Two of the men searched were not carrying an illegal weapon while the third person was found to be carrying an unloaded weapon. 

From this, a car and an apartment of one of the three men were searched and resulted in nothing illegal being found, the Ministry said. 

The Interior Ministry was very clear in its statement that the procedures were carried out in full accordance with the law. 

Meanwhile Prime Minister Kvirikashvili said all instances of allegations of misconduct should be reported and people should refrain from making uninformed political statements.

"I think that before making a political statement, I, the President and chairman of the Constitutional Court should give information to law enforcers. We are all the same in front of the law.”

He said after Papuashvili made first his initial comment about the alleged pressure on court judges several days ago, the pair spoke and Kvirikashvili advised him to go to the Prosecutor’s Office and report the incident.

"Unfortunately he decided not to go to the Prosecutor’s Office and this is something I don’t understand,” Kvirikashvili said.

He said by not reporting the incident to the relevant agency, this was disrespectful to the state institution involved to sort out the incident.