Opposition leader Bokeria summoned for alleged abuse of authority while in office
Leader of the European Georgia opposition party Giga Bokeria has refused to come to the Prosecutor’s Office. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Leader of the European Georgia opposition party Giga Bokeria has been summoned for interrogation by the Prosecutor’s Office for alleged abuse of authority while serving as secretary of the National Security Council under the United National Movement leadership.
The Prosecutor’s Office says they have questions on various agreements made by the National Security Council under Bokeria.
Bokeria, who says that the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili has plans to send him to prison, has refused to come to the Prosecutor’s Office, demanding the interrogation before a judge.
Bokeria links his summoning for interrogation to Tbilisi protests. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
The Prosecutor’s Office has made a request to the court regarding the type of interrogation Bokeria has demanded.
Bokeria says that the “revival of the forgotten case” is linked to ongoing protests in Tbilisi, sparked by the “deliberate rejection” of the ruling party proposed election bill on an early transition to a fully proportional voting system starting from 2020 instead of scheduled 2024.
Several opposition leaders have been charged over the past several months. It is the method Ivanishvili is using to put down the protests. However, the political prosecution will not bring the results he [Ivanishvili] wishes,” Bokeria said.
Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze has said this is not a case of political persecution and that “if anyone wanted to detain Bokeria, he would have been detained long before.”
When there are questions everyone in the country, no matter their political role, must answer these questions. This is the rule of law. Bokeria has been in the opposition for seven years, he has been one of the major opponents of the ruling party with his party members frequently choosing the most radical forms of rivalry. If anyone wanted to detain him based on political grounds, he would have been detained in the past several years,” Talakvadze said.
Bokeria served as secretary of the National Security Council between 2010 and 2013
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