PM Kvirikashvili: "We want the new Chief Prosecutor to have the highest legitimacy from society"

The Ministry of Justice will soon begin consultations on the appointment of the new Chief Prosecutor starting tomorrow, Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili told the media today after the meeting of the Georgian Dream party political council. 

"Our goal is for the selected candidate to have the maximum legitimacy from society. Today we have agreed only on the principles and did not discuss particular candidates. This is going to be discussed by the political council only after the final candidacy approved by the government will be presented to the parliament,” PM Kvirikashvili explained.

According to him the Georgian Dream political council has also summarised its positions on ongoing events including the protest rally on Rustaveli Avenue which was started by the father of one of the adolescents murdered on Khorava Street, Zaza Saralidze, in December 2017.

He was supported by wider society and several opposition parties in his initial request to hold the real offenders accountable.

Two 16-year-old boys were stabbed to death in a school brawl in Tbilisi on December 1, 2017. Davit Saralidze died in hospital due to multiple wounds in his back while Levan Dadunashvili died immediately.

The Prosecutor’s Office charged two teenagers with the ‘premeditated murder of an underage person’, and three others for not reporting the crime. Zaza Saralidze found the prosecutor’s charge unfair since the court verdict failed to identify the actual killer of his son.

The Chief Prosecutor Irakli Shotadze resigned on May 31 upon the demand of Zaza Saralidze and his supporters which was followed by the new demand for the government to resign.

The protest rally initiated by the father of the murdered adolescent resulted in opposition parties gathering yesterday to agree on an action plan for forcing the government to resign and the appointment of early parliamentary elections.

The father of the murdered adolescent decided to form a different protest rally away from politics and opposition forces who are mobilising to continue protests in front of the parliament building. Photo: RFE/RL

"The extraordinary session of the parliament will be held in following days where the composition of the special Investigation Commission will be approved. Also, the leaders of the parliamentary majority will start consultations with minority members from tomorrow to agree on views,” PM Kvirikashvili said, adding that he had met with Public Defender Nino Lomjaria and that the meeting was also attended by the Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Gakharia who was made responsible for the murder case investigation after the resignation of the Chief Prosecutor. 

"She delivered the relevant question surrounding the murder case. The Interior Ministry has already started summoning procedures. As for those people who have a sense of injustice, we are a government which considers this a serious challenge. Every measure I have mentioned is being taken to answer all those existing questions. And they are going to answer those questions."

  " As for certain radical groups willing to install a sense of instability around society making absolutely unjustified political demands, we are not going to allow for the possibility for anybody to encourage instability in the country. Our government is taking care of answering questions existing among the publish as much as possible but we are also taking care of the stability of the country,” PM Kvirikashvili explained.

On the other hand, the father of the murdered adolescent decided to form a different protest rally away from politics and opposition forces who are mobilising to continue protests in front of the parliament building today at 6 pm.

As Zaza Saralidze said, he would wait for his supporters without political motives today in Vake Park at 7 pm and would stop the protest immediately if those who were named by him as offenders would be arrested by the responsible bodies.