Ruling party head: US Ambassador’s statement on ex-Pres. Saakashvili’s  clandestine return to Georgia - “unfortunate”

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday called the United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan’s statement on former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s clandestine return to Georgia - “unfortunate”. The rule of law is a “supreme principle” and it should be effective in the USA as well as in Georgia, he said.

Kobakhidze responded to Degnan’s recent interview with the local media Adjara TV, where she had been asked by the journalist that she “represented the country with the highest rule of law and democracy” and if any former president had illegally crossed the US state border [like Saakashvili’s arrival in Georgia], would not it have been an “insult” to the country. The Ambassador said it was a “hypothetical question” and she could not and would not answer it.

The ruling party Head said it would be “difficult” to evaluate why Degnan refrained from answering the question and stressed neglecting the rule of law principle was a “serious problem”.