PM Garibashvili opens up on former president, justice, prisons and foreign partners

Georgia’s former president is viewed as a "disappointment” by many in Europe, PM Garibashvili said on national television.

Georgia’s Prime Minister also revealed Mikheil Saakashvili had become "a very comic character” in Europe, USA and among many in the international business community, when he spoke on TV Imedi last night.

"According to our European partners, former president Saakashvili was their personal disappointment,” Garibashvili said.

"They all used to believe that he would create a democratically elected Government like ours. Then, the led the country in an absolutely different direction. If someone used to believe that Saakashvili would build democracy in Georgia – this was our disappointment. The same attitudes are observed in Europe, Americas and other world towards Saakashvili,” Garibashvili said.

Recalling the Security Conference in Munich where Saakashvili arrived unexpectedly, Garibashvili said Georgia’s former leader was not allowed at the conference and no one had invited him there.

"I wonder why a person who is not invited would come up with an idea to arrive and rent a room in a hotel where the conference is held just in order to appear in the lobby and find Georgian journalists and make a statement to create the impression he was invited to the conference,” Garibashvili said.

When questioned, the Prime Minister did not exclude the possibility that Saakashvili could be questioned about the Girgvliani murder case. He said "no one stands and will not stand above the law”.

Twenty eight-year-old Girgvliani was tortured and killed in February 2006. At the time, several ex-high officials were linked to his case and among them was VanoMerabishvili, who was the Internal Affairs Minister at the time.

"If the investigation will reveal guilt of any person, among them of the former president, of course, everyone will be responsible before the law and impartial trial,” Garibashvili said.

Prime Minister also answered questions about the Mukhrovani mutiny case. He said the internet-leaked video, which regarded the case, could serve as a reason for a new investigation towards the ex-PM Vano Merabishvili, who has been in pre-trial detention for several months.

Garibashvili said Merabishvili’s order of ‘two dead bodies’ was followed by the death of one person and significant wounding of another.

"Of course this fact will be strictly analyzed by Georgian law enforcement agencies. The case is going to be investigated in a very short term and all the guilty people will be punished very harshly,” he said.

Similarly, Garibashvili said he completely agreedwith the former PM’s point of view regarding Merabishvili statement, saying he was taken out of prison and blackmailed by the former Prosecutor General.

"Merabishvili who participated in violent murder of Girgvliani, says he was taken out the cell. I liked Bidzina Ivanishvili’s rhetorical question a lot – what happened then, after Merabishvili was taken out the cell by Partskhaladze? What did he do to him?This is a very accurate question. Why would the former Prosecutor General kidnap Merabishvili? Where is the logic here? Merabishvili is in prison and if the Prosecutor wanted to ask him a question, why would he go to the prison by himself and kidnap Merabishvili?,” Garibashvili asked.

He said Georgia’s European partners were ensured there was no selective justice in Georgia and the process could only be called ‘recovery of justice’.

"During all my foreign visits I explained to them [European partners] that the incorrect attitude has formed in Europe and USA, especially was a result of UNM’s lobby and misinformation policy. Now the attitude has changed and this was a very nice surprise for me,” Garibashvili said, adding the partners knew that 300,000 people were tried by the former government, and there had been systemic violations of inhuman treatment towards prisoners.

As for the prison riots, Garibashvili said some of the prisoners were "ungrateful and unjust” towards the Government, considering the Government had pardoned more than 15,000 prisoners last year, an unprecedented amount.

"Those who stay in prisons have to serve their sentence and remember the main thing with our Government, casesof torture and inhuman treatment in prison has come to an end,” Garibashvili stated.

He said no instance of mistreatment had been observed in prisons since Georgian Dream came into power and any cases of excessive use of forcewere immediately investigated.

"This is why I assume that the reason prisoners behave badly and are ungrateful and unjust towards the new Government, and those people who support any kind of provocation at prisons are very unjust people,” he said.

Speaking about recent riot at the Geguti prison, Garibashvili said he was informed by the Interior Minister that this kind of provocations were often supported from the outside by "various individuals and odious people”.

"Of course, everything has to be investigated, though,” Garibashvili said.