Parliament official: “no question marks” over Saakashvili in capitals of partner countries

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, on Thursday said there were “no question marks” regarding the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili in the capitals of Georgia’s partner countries.

“I have visited the capitals of several European countries for three months. I want to tell you that during these visits, the issue of Mikheil Saakashvili was not raised at all. There are no question marks on this issue in the capitals of our partner countries”, the Parliament official told Palitra News.

As for the European Parliament and several MEPs known to our public, there are politically motivated people who are trying to damage the [the ruling] Georgian Dream [party] with this entry about Mikheil Saakashvili in the resolution [adopted by the lawmaking body in December] - and [...] when you damage the Georgian Dream, you also damage the [Georgian] state”, Samkharadze noted. 

The comments follow domestic controversy around Saakashvili, with his lawyers and a part of the opposition demanding his release from detention and transfer abroad for allegedly required medical treatment, while authorities have responded by stressing the former President is provided with adequate care in the Tbilisi civilian clinic he has been undergoing treatment at since May.

In other comments to the outlet, the Committee Chair also said he was confident the country would be granted the European Union membership candidate status after fulfilling the related conditions set out by the European Council in June.

There was strong support in Germany [for the status to be granted to Georgia], [and] not only in Germany, but also in the Netherlands, and we heard that nothing stands in the way of granting Georgia the candidate status. Georgia is considered together with those countries that either have candidate status or have started negotiations [with EU bodies over the status]”, he concluded.